Crystal Nothings II: My Wings Angle Down
by Fallen Lithium
Summary: After tragedy struck a group of elite fighters, they return to the place where they were betrayed, all but expecting more drama to be waiting, especially for a young hero with heavy suspicions and an ex-King of Evil who just wants to make things right...
1. Prologue

**Crystal Nothings II: My Wings Angle Down - The Fallen Lithium**

**Disclaimer: Nintendo, Sega, and Konami own Smash Bros.! A/N: In this chapter Link Toon Link  
**

* * *

They had always said he looked like a cartoon. Hence hs nickname, 'Toon Link.' At first, he didn't like it. But after a while, he grew used to it and even began to flaunt it. However, he was still simply 'Link' when the Hero of Twilight wasn't around. Link thought his 'toonish' appearance gave him more character than the others in the house. The boy seemed to have a facial expression for everything.

Like right now, his lips were pursed into a confused 'o' shape, and his big, catlike eyes shifted back and forth as Jigglypuff ranted on in her unintelligible Pokemon language.

"Jiggly! Ji Jig Jigglypuff! Jig..."

The only thing Link could gather was that the balloon Pokemon was upset about something. He stroked his chin thoughtfully as the pink fluff stared questioningly up at him.

"Jigglypuff!" she cried in exasperation.

"Oh!" Toon Link cried, delighted he'd figured it out. "You're upset because Pichu left, right?"

At this, Jigglypuff bounced happily, then sank into the seat with a forlorn expression as she realized why she was bouncing.

It was true, after the... upsetting, to say the least... events that occured six months ago. A few of the Smashers in the house couldn't cope with the stress saying that they were leaving and wouldn't be returning. Aside from Pichu, Roy had departed, much to Marth's chargin. Dr. Mario dropped out from fighting, merely filling a medical role backstage. No one knew yet if Mewtwo was coming back.

"Well, hopefully Mewtwo came back," Link said with a small smile, petting the Pokemon affectionately on the head, "because then we would still have a translator for the little guys like you."

His statement earned him an angry glare from her, but she just turned her stare dejectedly out the window.

"Would you two shut up for five minutes?!" an irritable voice growled from behind them.

The thirteen year-old swordsman turned around in his seat and gave the twenty-five year old anthro who had spoken a steely glare.

"What crawled up your butt?"

Wolf O'Donnell lay the book he was reading down in his lap and crossed his arms defiantly.

"The same thing that keeps your voice box running."

Link opened his mouth to interject, but couldn't think of an intelligent response, so he settled for sticking his tongue out at Wolf and returning to his own seat.

The ship they were on had a magnificent view of the lake they were sailing on. The waves rippled serenely and smacked against the side of the ship leisurely, without a care in the world. The trio of Smashers could see the island they were headed towards.

A blur of green was all Wolf and Jigglypuff could see as Toon Link bounded happily into the air. "Yes! We're almost there!"

"Hey! Siddown! Friggin' kids..." Wolf muttered.

"Oh, come _on_!" The boy said with a sly smile. "You can't tell me you're not the least bit excited?!"

_I don't want to talk to this nuisance of a child, _Wolf thought miserably. But the cartoonish-looking boy was staring at him with those wide, innocent eyes. Wolf could feel the growl he bit back hiding in his throat. _Why does this kid have to have those goddamned eyes?!_

"Well," he started gruffly. "I guess I should be more excited than I am."

"Why aren't you more excited?"

"...It's..." he sighed angrily, "It's none of your business kid!"

Link looked taken aback for a moment, then gave up and rolled his eyes and his way back to his own seat.

Wolf propped his chin in his hand and stared out the window at the lake. The house they were staying in was in view now, and that knot of dread that was tying itself in his stomach was getting bigger with each passing centimetre that the ship inched towards his doom.

The ex-mercenary had felt bad for yelling at the little snot, but he couldn't help it.

Talking about Star Fox was a sensitive issue for him.

And goddammit all, they were here. Not one, but two. Fox McCloud AND that cocky bastard, Falco Lombardi. There was no doubt that the two wouldn't like his presence. The lupine has been more compassionate than his avian friend... but then again, they _were _best friends, right? Suffice to say, Wolf was a bit worried about his reception.

They had been through so much, he and the Star Fox team. Andross, the Sauria invasion, the wars with the Aparoids and the Anglars.

After the latter two, Wolf had decided that maybe being the bad guy wasn't as much fun as he thought. Hell, he didn't even like being the bad guy in the first place, killing people, and stealing. Sure, being a rebel with attitude was always entertaining, but that kind of thing was taking it too far. But of course, Star Wolf had been offered a pretty penny.

What else could he have done?

* * *

The young Hero of Winds had been preoccupied with his own thoughts at the time.

He was excited to be back and see everyone, for sure. But there were two people he wouldn't be seeing.

And he didn't know how he (or the others) was going to take it.

The enigmatic 'Master' and his even more mysterious companion 'Crazy' had gone to great lengths to lure everyone back to re-start the tournament. But the boy couldn't help but think it would all be in vain.

Two Smashers were dead, and a third was in a coma.

Gee, no drama there, right?

Right.

He began tracing his finger idly on the steamy window, making non-descript patterns and shapes in order to distract himself from those thoughts.

But Link's mind, always refusing to stop working, brought up a new issue.

This 'Wolf' character. He seemed cranky, irritable, and rude. Just what this mansion needed. Another Bowser, or Ganondorf.

Ganondorf...

_Oh Godessess, why the hell does one thought always lead to another?_

Poor Link had no idea what to think of _that_ situation. The Gerudo had always been their enemy. Both of them and their princesses had risked everything to take them down, to save their worlds.

One goddamned traumatic event occurs, then suddenly his other self and his arch-foe were best friends.

It was... well, _infuriating_!

Maybe it was just the overactive mind of a child...

That had to be it.

Wasn't it?

...

Wasn't it?

_Aw, Evil Realm, I'm so lost_.

"Jiggly jig jig puff!!"

The squeals of the balloon Pokemon signaled their arrival.

Link could feel his bright mood dampen significantly as all he could do was steel himself for another round of drama.

"Hopefully, we can skip the tragedy this time..."

"What?" Wolf asked, with a confused expression on his furry face.

"It's..." he smirked, suddenly. "It's none of your business, _dog_!"

The ex-Star Wolf leader bared his teeth and snarled at that, but he knew he couldn't attack a young child.

So he settled for glaring at the back of his blonde head as Jigglypuff lead the way into the house.


	2. Still a Comatose Angel

**Crystal Nothings II: My Wings Angle Down - The Fallen Lithium**

**Disclaimer: Nintendo, Sega, and Konami own Smash Bros. Brawl!** **Warning: Non-Brawl Characters Introduced Here!**

* * *

Usually, when a new tournament began, the air was filled with excitement and cheer. People, animals, and Pokemon all chattered delightedly and drinks were passed about. Games of cards were initiated, as well as innocent grudge matches. Glasses clinked, the kids sang and chased each other about, while the exasperated adults did their best to ignore them.

Not today... oh no, not today.

The mood was somber to say the least. The room where the group congregated was eerily silent. No one was sure exactly what to do or say in the incredibly awkward situation. The other newcomers, who had been informed of the situation that had occurred those months ago, stood clustered to the side, scratching behind their ears absently or tossing small objects in the air.

Toon Link immediately ambled over to Sheik and Ganondorf, whom, like the rest of the room, were dead silent.

"Where's Link?"

Ganondorf just gave the boy an angry stare. "You wanna guess?" he snarled.

"I _would _ask you what crawled up your butt... but I'm afraid that I already used that line today," he glanced at Wolf as he said that, "and I'm pretty sure I know anyway. He's gone to see Pit hasn't he?"

Sheik cut off Ganondorf's colourful response with a nod.

Their discussion had alerted the rest of the room, and so the entire populace of the mansion was honed in on their discussion...albeit somewhat reluctantly.

"And even if that _is_ what he's doing..." Link hissed, "Why should that bother _you_? There in _love_, and you have no right to intrude on that."

No one noticed Ike cringe at his words.

"I care about him more that little winged _brat_," the Gerudo said, a little more forcefully than he intended.

The little boy snorted and made a show of rolling his eyes disinterestedly. "Whatever, jack-ass." Angrily, he stalked off to go find his other self.

Silence fell through the room, and Fox, who's hand was fingers were interlocked with Falco's, said, "Oh... it's already started again..."

Neither of the Star Fox pilots noticed that Wolf had entered the room yet.

And still, no one noticed the look of disdain that Ike awarded the duo with.

* * *

The infirmary room was as bland as the Hero remembered it to be. Of course, being able to see those depressing tombstones out in the fields was no help, but he had to take what could be taken.

Link stroked Pit's hair gently, as he had a habit of doing whenever he came to visit. A bottle of Ordon Milk hung lazily from his utility belt.

"I'm so sorry... I don't know what to do anymore."

As time went by, these visits felt less and less like a priority to him. Now they just felt like an obligation. And damn it _all_ to the Evil Realm, it was a horrid thought. One of many he had each time he came to visit his comatose lover.

Ex-Lover.

"What?" Link whirled around, nearly dropping his milk and the sound of the voice.

Toon Link stood there in the doorway. "What did you say?"

_Oh crap, I said that aloud?_

Link sighed. "I don't even know."

The younger of the two sauntered casually into the room and plopped down next to himself. "What don't you know?"

"... Don't want to talk about it," he muttered, knowing it would be useless.

"Aha!" Toon Link cried. "You know full well that won't work with _me_!"

Link sighed. Dammit, he hated Toony so much sometimes for being so persistent. Like a Like-Like. Ouch, that one hurt the brain. He couldn't count how many shields he had lost because they were so damn--

"I'm waiting...?"

Persistent.

"Toon Link..."

"Still waiting."

"Ugh."

"The sooner you tell me, the sooner you can leave."

"Well... alright. I-I'm not sure how I feel anymore."

"You'll have to do better than that," Toon Link replied with a smirk.

"I still have feelings for Pit, okay? But I'm not sure how strong they are. What I mean to say is, I'm worried that it may not be true love after all."

"Why would you say something like that?" The Hero of Winds was wearing one of his trademark facial expressions now, a deep furrow creasing his brow and his lips pursed in a curvy line that was almost S-shaped.

"Can you blame me? I mean, come on Toony... he's in a coma!"

"I gotta say, Link. I never thought you could be so shallow."

"That's just it!" Link shouted. He got up and began pacing while scratching his chin thoughtfully. "That's why I don't think Pit and I are right!"

"Explain."

"When you love someone, truly, _truly_ love someone, you'll wait for them through anything right?"

Of course, a child his age couldn't really comprehend what _true _love was, but he nodded anyway to keep things moving forward.

"I don't _want_ to wait."

Silence. Toon Link swung his legs casually off the side of the bed, caught by surprise with the words.

All the stunned boy could think to say was, "Why don't you wanna wait?"

"Because I have feelings for someone else."

_Oh..my...goddesses, _was the first thought. The second was, _I don't _freaking _think so!_

"I take it by your silence my little confession was powerful?"

"Powerful?" Toon Link muttered in disbelief. "It was more than powerful, it was _terrible_!"

"... I know that, but I can't help it. No one can control their feelings."

"Sure you can!" the boy yelled in exasperation. "You and Pit were so... so incredible together! You guys were made for each other! You can't just throw that all away because of a little crush."

Link was silent. His gaze was suddenly drawn to the tilings on the infirmary floor. Were those green flecks always there?

"Link," the other said coldly. "He gave you the bracelet. The Crystal Nothings. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"Of course it does!!" Link shouted angrily, his eyes snapping back into focus. "Why wouldn't it?! But if I loved him like I thought I did, I wouldn't even _have _feelings for anybody else! Don't you get that?!"

Toon Link held up his small hands in defence. "Hey, I'm just a kid, remember? That stuff goes over my head. All I know is you can't abandon him now. Not like this."

The Ordon native fell quiet again, as did Outset's hero.

_He doesn't get it. He just doesn't get it._

_Ugh, he's so fickle! It makes me so mad. I'll never treat someone I love like this..._

Link wished he could change it. He wished so _horribly_ that he could make it right. Every night, he prayed to the Goddess of Courage that he would wake up the next morning and realize that he didn't want to be anywhere but next to Pit's bed until he woke up. That he could walk around the house with the damn bracelet adorned proudly on his wrist.

But he couldn't. And he didn't know if he ever would be able to ever again.

Figuring there was nothing left to argue about, the Wind Waker was about to get up and leave the room, but Mario beat him to the punch.

"Hey-a, you two! It's-a me, Mario! Come-a back down. There are-a couple of people you should-a meet."

The duo exchanged confused glances and filed out of the infirmary after the plumber without looking back at the comatose angel.

* * *

The mood in the main room had improved significantly. People were chatting aimably now.

The self-proclaimed King Dedede of Dream Land was showing an astonished, yet seemingly infuriated Kirby how his rather large and imposing hammer worked. Meta-Knight was rolling his eyes dramatically.

Mr. Game & Watch seemed to be conversing with a strange-looking red-and-white robot in the corner.

Everyone supposed mechanical things could understand each other.

Lovebirds Fox and Falco were sitting on the couch sharing a glass of chardanay, still oblivious to the wolf that was staring at them from the entryway.

"Mewtwo!" Toon Link cried happily, leaving himself and Mario behind as he trotted to the Pokemon, who was talking with Sonic and another, more menacing, blue furred figure. As he whirled to face the boy, he hurriedly yanked his hand off of the hedgehog's shoulder, blushing madly. The hero decided not to worry about it. "What are you doing here? I thought you were leaving."

The psychic smiled and gestured to the others. "Well, I'm not fighting anymore. I just came to be around good people."

"Lucario," the other Pokemon said as if that were his cue.

"Link," he replied. "But everyone around here calls me Toon Link on account of I look like a cartoon!" He giggled as he shot a glance at Snake, who was talking to a rosy-red skinned Peach. "They won't tell me what a cartoon is, though."

Lucario looked dis-interested in the boy's immaturity, and simply turned and continued to talk to Mewtwo.

As Link left them alone, his eyes widened in shock as he saw a small man huddled, looking frightened, in a corner, surrounded by several strange-looking plant-like creatures.

"Hi," he said, attempting a little wave as he approached the man. "I'm Toon Link. Welcome to--"

"Stay BACK!" the man in the space-suit cried, fear evident in his voice. "My Pikmin will tear you to pieces!!"

"Pikmin...? Oh, you mean these adorable little things?!" Toon Link bent down on his knees and patted a Blue Pikmin gently on the head. "Aw, these things are awesome."

The Pikmin's eyes closed in delight at the gentle affection.

"Oh..." the space-suit man said. "I guess they like you. Well, I'm Olimar. Forgive me for my little outburst. I'm pretty shy."

"That's okay!" Link said brightly. "There's been lots of drama around here, so it's nice to know a friendly face!"

"So I've heard," Olimar replied darkly. "I'm sorry for your losses."

"What losses? I'm right here."

His Master Sword nearly flew out of its scabbard as he jumped about fifty feet in the air at the all-too-famiiliar voice.

"...Tetra?" he asked apprehensively, without turning around.

"Well, it's Zelda now, I suppose."

He slowly turned to the girl, indeed finding her in full regal attire with the Triforce of Wisdom around her neck and the matching symbol on her left hand.

"Te... Zelda!!" he shouted happily, hugging his friend.

"C...circulation!!" Zelda huffed.

* * *

Captain Douglas Jay Falcon couldn't believe his eyes.

_I'm not seeing this. I'm having a dream. A wonderful, wonderful dream_.

The bounty hunter pinched himself. Yep, it hurt. So he really was seeing it.

Those round, steel shoulder pads. The arm cannon that could kill you in less than ten shots. And that absolutely _diabolical_ visor.

Captain Falcon took slow, careful steps toward the figure, who was scanning the room with confusing in those shielded eyes. She looked... different somehow, but Douglas couldn't put his finger on it.

"Samus...?" he asked. "Samus, is that you?"

"Oh my no! She passed away, did she not?"

The helmet was removed, and the captain felt himself staring at a purple woman.

Seriously, she was purple.

"This suit... data was taken from the 'Fusion' experiment."

"Eh?"

"Never mind... Samus Aran's Power Suit has become sort of standard issue in the Federation now. You know, sort of as a way to honor memory?"

"I guess that makes sense. So who are you?"

The purple woman stuck out her armored hand.

"I believe we met at the memorial."


	3. Confrontations

**Crystal Nothings II: My Wings Angle Down - The Fallen Lithium**

**Disclaimer: Nintendo, Sega, and Konami own Smash Bros. Brawl!**

* * *

"Gandrayda..."

"Yes," she replied, with a solemn expression. "I figured someone had to kick some ass in Samus's place, so I came here."

"Wow. I'm still kind of in shock." Captain Falcon was baffled. Gandrayda had come to fight for Samus. It was a strange concept, but it would make sense given time.

Across the crowded room, the younger Link was swarming the bewildered Zelda with questions. How did you get here? What are you doing here? Are Cheese Nips made with real cheese? Have you seen Star Wars Episode III? Wasn't as good as the last one, was it? Are you fighting in the tournament? Have you met Wolf? Who's that purple lady who has Samus's armor?

Zelda took a deep breath and fired out a volley of responses. I got here by ship. I'm here to fight in the tournament. No, I don't think so. Yes, I have. You're right, it wasn't. I already told you that. No, who is that? Her name's Gandrayda.

The boy opened his mouth to let loose a flurry of new questions. Zelda's eyes widened comically and she quickly stuck a hand over the boy's mouth. "Aha, yeah. Let's save that breath for some air, huh?"

"Oh, Tet!" he cried after his mouth was freed. "It's been a long time! I'm glad you're here!"

"If you scream any louder, you might scare her away," said a snickering voice. Toon Link turned around and narrowed his eyebrows angrily as Ganondorf and Link approached them.

"Leave him alone, Ganon," Link chided with a slight smile. "Though he _does _have a point..."

The thirteen-year old switched his angry glare to Link. "A point? What the hell? Why are you siding with _him_?"

Link raised his hands defensively. "Hey, Toony. Chill out. Need I use your famous line on you?"

The boy stared down at the floor. "No. Do it and you'll wake up in the morning with no eyebrows."

He rubbed his eyebrows gingerly. He loved them. "Fine."

Toon Link brightened again as he re-focused on the 'new' Zelda. "Seriously though, I can't believe you made it!"

"I'm still pretty surprised myself."

Captain Falcon removed his helmet and stared at Gandrayda in shock. "You can shape-shift."

"Well, sure," she replied nonchalantly. In a flash, the racer found himself staring at... himself.

"Damn," he smirked. "I _am _hot!"

Gandrayda/Falcon snorted and reverted to her natural form. "A little full of ourselves aren't we?"

"After what happened before, I kind of have to be."

His eyes glazed over as he thought about the Hunter. _Oh Samus_, he thought. _If only you were here to see this_.

"Hey, has anyone-a seen Mewtwo or Sonic?" Mario asked off-handedly.

* * *

Fox and Falco were snuggled up close to each other on the couch, away from all of the conversation.

McCloud, whose cheeks were slightly tinted pink from the alcohol, began nipping gently at the other's neck.

Falco gasped slightly. "Fox, stop it... I-I _love _that!"

"Oh god, you two get a room."

They hadn't recognized the voice right away, nor had they cared. Until a furry tail brushed Falco's neck where Fox had been biting.

"Teehee... Geez Fox. Are you _trying _to make me scream? Put your tail away."

Fox lifted his head, a confused expression on his furry face. "Falco... my tail is down there, between your legs."

The bird didn't have time to laugh at the absurdity of the statement as the duo froze up.

Very, very slowly, the duo slowly turned their heads in the opposite direction.

"Oh, hell no!" Falco shouted suddenly. His face turned beet red with embarrassment as he just realized what he'd said at _Wolf O'Donnell's tail_. Wolf whirled around, relieved that it was finally time to get the confrontation over with.

And a confrontation it was. A few heads twirled to watch as ace pilot Falco jumped from the couch and glared at the other anthro. "Woah! What the hell are you doing here?!"

"I believe this is a tournament is it not?" Wolf asked, his trademark sarcasm setting in.

"That doesn't explain why _you _are here! This tourney is invitation _only_!" he added with a snarl.

Wolf sighed and reached into the back pocket of his khaki's and pulled out the letter he had received. "Does _this _qualify as an invitation?" he asked with a smug grin.

Fox could only watch on, looking dumbfounded, as Falco snatched the letter from Wolf's hands and read it over furiously.

He was speechless. Never in his life could he remember having nothing to say. It was an invitation all right. It looked just like the one he was using as a bookmark for one of his dirty magazines he used for nights when Fox didn't feel like being intimate. He read over the invite again and again, amazed that of all people, they had invited him.

Wolf grinned triumphantly. "Well, looks like I've stumped the Great Falco." His eyes ran over Fox. "Well, well, well. Looks like a get to finish off Fox McCloud myself in hand-to-hand combat. Oh, how I look forward to it."

The Star Wolf leader ended with a sneer and stalked off without giving Fox the chance to reply.

The other smashers returned to their conversations as if nothing had even happened.

Falco plopped back onto the couch, still clutching the letter in his hands.

"I can't believe it. I just can't believe it. And I watch 'Jerry Springer.'"

His lover didn't reply. He simply stared after Wolf as he disappeared around the corner and left the Main Room.

_Goddammit_. _Just when I thought it was going to be simple around here again._

"Mewtwo's room is empty," Luigi claimed to his plumber brother. "Maybe they're in Sonic's room?"

"A-check!" said Mario. "We just-a got a letter from-a Master!"

"Ew." Luigi wrinkeld his nose. "I'm not checking, you check."

"You-a check!

"You check!"

"You-a check!"

"Check what?" Sonic asked as he followed Mewtwo into the room.

"Oh... it's-a nothing." Mario replied "We just got a letter!"

"LETTER!!" Luigi screamed for all to hear.

Everyone followed the sound of the tall plumber's voice and gathered around Mario to hear the contents of the letter.

_Dear Smashers,_

_We enclose to you the final roster for the Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Ver. 2) and the first match list. A copy of this letter has been left in each room for future reference._

_Mario  
Link  
Pikachu  
Kirby  
Gandrayda  
Fox McCloud  
Zelda  
Bowser  
Yoshi  
Donkey Kong  
Peach  
Nana & Popo  
Sheik  
Luigi  
Ness  
Captain Douglas Jay Falcon  
Jigglypuff  
Falco Lombardi  
Marth  
Mr. Game & Watch  
Ganondorf  
Meta-Knight  
Pit (removed from match listings until further notice)  
Wario  
Snake  
Sonic  
Ike  
Red (accompanied by Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard)  
Diddy Kong  
Lucas  
Captain Olimar (accompanied by Pikmin)  
King Dedede  
'Toon' Link  
Wolf O'Donnell  
R.O.B.  
Lucario_

_Dr. Mario & Mewtwo will remain here at mediators, however will not partcipate in battles. The first match will take place in two days and will pit:  
_

_Falco Lombardi_

_vs._

_Ike_

_These two combatants must report to the Exhibition building on this date at 12:00pm for their match. The winner will move on to the second round._

_Thank you_

_Master & CrAZZZZy_

_P.S. The exhibition building is also now open to training and free, non-tournament battles between combatants_

Falco, his hatred for wolf temporarily forgotten, thrust out his left arm and grinned.

"No, problem!" he shouted. He turned to Ike. "Can't wait!"

"Tch," Ike grunted. His cape swirled magnificiently as the warrior turned and strode away with an air of disdain that seemed to follow him.

"Doesn't seem like much of a people person does he?" Falco said optimistically. "Whatever, I have a match to prepare for!"

* * *

Ike walked towards his room, grumbling angrily the whole way. "Faggots. Jesus, these filthy creatures swarm this place. In _my _homeland, such filth would be executed instantly. And I thought I could be friends with that wretched swordsman Link. I'm amazed these abominations are allowed to live. I will _destroy_ that faggot-bird in the match. I will _prove _that those people have no place in the world."

The swordsman promptly tripped and fell flat on his face. As the stars danced around in his vision. He heard angry beeping from where he had tripped. After standing up and brushing off his uniform, he frowned at a black shadow that bounced and beeped resolutely as he bounced.

"Are you Game & Watch?" Ike asked, confused.

"_Beep!" _

"Yes, and watch where you are going," a melachony voice translated for Ike. R.O.B. wheeled up to the two of them and focused his cameras at Ike.

"_Bip bo beep boop bop!_"

"Your words are a bit harsh don't you think?" R.O.B. translated again.

"Of course not, foolish machinery! Gays, are filth."

"_Beep beep bip bip boop!"_

_"_But everyone has the right to live the way they want to. And he's right you know," R.O.B. said calmly.

"Oh my... don't tell me you two are with them?"

"Certainly not," R.O.B. said. "I'm but a machine. I know nothing of love. And Game & Watch... well he has had his... eyes... on Peach for some time now."

Ike rolled his eyes in frustration and left them behind, slamming the door to his room behind him.

"Have the right to live as they choose... what bull," he grumbled.

Just as promised, there was a letter waiting for him on his bed.

He grabbed it and tore the envelope open, reading the name of his opponent through and through

Falco Lombardi.

"Maybe I can convince them to change their ways," he said to no one in particular. "Perhaps I can show them to live the way it was intended."

His face became stony. "But this Falco... when I'm finished with him, he wont' have a penis to stick in that horrid McCloud's anus."

* * *

Wolf, too was locked safely in the confines of his room. He had to admit, he'd expected a worse reaction than that.

And Fox...

Quite simply, Fox had been silent the whole affair. Wolf figured the vulpine would have _something _to say.

Yet somehow, after everything they had been through, he hadn't said a word.

Wolf bared his teeth in a grin as he thought back to the first time he and the Star Fox leader had unifed.

Unifed... what a way of putting it.

* * *

It was a stereotypical dark and stormy Cornerian night. Fox McCloud was one of three people in the musty tavern, downing gin two shots at a time.

"God..." he whispered. "I'm so pathetic."

"You and me both pal."

Fox didn't even jump as he heard the stool next to him creak underneath the weight of Wolf O'Donnell.

"Wolf," he stated flatly.

"Fox," he replied in a similar fashion.

"Whatever's on tap, miss," O'Donnell muttered to the deer who was running the bar. She just nodded and went to fetch him the beer. "I know we aren't the best of friends, McCloud. But even I know something terrible is up when you're drowing yourself in gin."

"Read that in the Enquirer did you?"

"Appears to be true. A rare first for that wretched paper. So what's on that vulpine brain of yours?"

"Why would I tak to you?"

"Because," Wolf said, taking a sip of his newly accquired beer. "I might be of more help to you than you think."

"What makes you say that?"

"I've been having some hard times myself, being gay and all."

Furry ears perked at the sound of the confession. "No reluctance with that little statement was there."

"Meh," Wolf grumbled, staring at the ceiling. "I don't really care anymore. Leon and Panther abandoned me. Everyone in this world hates me even after I saved your team's asses with the Aparoids and the Anglars..." he sighed. "Why do I even bother?"

Fox was going to comment on the 'saved your asses,' part, but decided to leave it alone. He was starting to feel tipsy.

"So what is it Fox?"

Star Fox's lip trembled slightly. Don't break down, he told himself, don't break down. Not in front of Wolf. You can't--

He broke down.

He immeadiately burrowed his face in the lupine's leather jacket and started to sob. This took the lupine quite by surprise, and he couldn't think of anything to do except scratch behind the other's ears gently.

"O-oh, Wolf! I... I'm so unimportant."

The addressee leaned down and whispered softly in his ear. "It's alright. Let it out."

"Bill... I told him... told him I liked him.. and he called me filth!" he cried, still sobbing. "He... tried to have me jailed for sodomy! S-sodomy! General Pepper saved me..." His tears were flowing freely now, embedding themselves in the jacket.

Wolf was shocked not only by the story, but by his own actions. He should be beating the crap out of Fox right now. Oh, how badly he wanted to. He wanted to grab him by the shoulders... and kiss him so hard his lips bled. But that little bastard inside him called conscience told him to hold the vulpine as tightly as he could and ignore the stares of the bartender and some dog playing solitare by himself across the tavern.

"Come on, Fox," Wolf cooed quietly. "Let's get out of here."

"I-I can't d-drive," Fox sniffled, still leaking tears onto the coat.

"No worries, you can come to my place." Wolf started to stand, but stopped as he felt the claws of the other digging into his coat.

"No.. Wolf please, don't let me go. I... I'm so scared..."

He offered a sad smile and nonchalantly swooped Fox into his arms, who didn't move from his position despite dangling in his arms. Effortlessly, O'Donnell carried him out of the tavern and to his car.

* * *

"I can't believe I'm thanking you Wolf, but thank you. And I'm sorry..."

Wolf shooked his head. "Don't apologize. Come on, let's get inside. It's freezing out here."

Inside, he flicked on the lights. "You can sleep on the couch if you'd like. I'm gonna grab a coffee and head to bed. Want me to make you one?"

"That would be great."

When he carried the two steaming mugs into the living room, Fox was already sitting there, staring into the dark. His fierce green eyes refocused sharply at the calming scent of coffee in the gray animal's hands. Smiling gratefully, he took the cup and sipped at it, relishing the taste and the warmth.

Cautiouslly, he sat next to Fox. After a while of silence, the guest spoke up.

"I'm amazed you did all of this for me. You have no idea what it means."

Shrugging his shoulders, Wolf said, "It was nothing, I guess. What else could I do?"

Fox didn't reply to that, just staring into his cup. "Wolf, I..."

"Yeah?"

"... Nothing, forget it."

"No, come on. You got me all excited!" he snickered. "Tell me."

Certainly Wolf was caught by surprise as both of their cups hit the carpet with a tiny _splash_! and Fox had planted his muzzle roughly agains't Wolf's. Roughly, he used his hands to push Fox away.

"Oh god... Fox, what are you doing?"

"I..." Fox trailed off and blushed like a tomato. He quickly averted his gaze to the ground. "Wolf... I'm sorr-"

Fox's wold be apology was cut off by another kiss, this one initiated by Wolf. In an instant he felt Wolf's tongue against his lips. Smiling against the kiss, he parted his lips ever so slightly to allow him to merely slip his tongue between his teeth.

As they broke apart, Wolf smiled. "Come to bed with me?"

"Of course."

For the second time that night, Fox was cradled in Wolf's arms. That is, until he was dropped without ceremony onto Wolf's bed, grinning like a madman the whole time.

* * *

Unbeknownst to Wolf, Fox was reliving this same memory.

He had made him promise not to tell. And he never did.

As Falco slept, drooling and snoring loudly next to him, Fox lay awake with his face buried in the crook of his lover's arm.

Of course, that hadn't been the only time they had gotten together. And somehow, each time managned to be more special and exciting than the last...

No. He had to push those thoughts of his head.

"I have Falco," he said to no one. "Those things don't matter anymore. I love him."

He propped himself up on one elbow and spoke to his sleeping man.

"I love you, Falco. Nothing, not even a fling, will change that."

Fox kissed the bird on the nose and fell asleep next to him with a barely-there smile.


	4. Speculation

**Crystal Nothings II: My Wings Angle Down - The Fallen Lithium**

**Disclaimer: Nintendo, Sega, and Konami own Smash Bros. Brawl! I also don't own 'Juno' or 'Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle'  
**

* * *

Link stared long and hard the bracelet, as the sun peeked over the grassy hill in the fields. The dark circles underneath his eyes just staring, nothing else. His eyes hopelessly scanned over the words engraved on each seperate, perfect jewel.

"Why did you do this to me, Pit?" Link asked aloud.

He'd been so _sure_ of himself before. Now it was impossible to know. Pit was in a coma (as he'd been telling himself multiple times), Ganondorf was acting like he had amnesia, and Toon Link was angry with him. About what, he had yet to know.

The poor kid just didn't, no, _couldn't _comprehend what he was going through. He seemed to be so confident that the way you feel is entirely up to you. Toony didn't get the fact that the heart just doesn't work that way.

The swordsman yearned to tell his friend that he was right, and he was wrong, and things could go back to being simpler (not comepletely simple mind you, one can't ressurect the dead).

"I hate this."

"I know what you mean."

He didn't look up from the bracelet as he felt the weight of Ganondorf sink onto the bed next to him.

"No, you don't, Ganon. You really don't."

"I also hate it when people jump to conclusions."

Still staring at his hand, he replied, "Well, how could you? I'm losing my feelings for someone who committed his life to me. And now I don't even know if he has a life to committ to me anymore."

"You've been saying those words an awful lot lately."

"Seems to be the only words that make sense in my world," the Hero of Twilight muttered dejectedly.

Ganondorf turned and watched the sun as it continued to rise.

"Link," he began. "Have you ever watched the sun rise?"

The other scoffed. "Of course I have. Who hasn't."

"You probably have," Ganondorf agreed. "But what I mean is... have you really _watched _it? Watched it like it was like the only thing that mattered?"

"... I guess not so much like that."

"It's kind of like a metaphor for my life, the sunrise."

"I tend to think that my life is more like a box full of Kirbys. Disaster at every turn."

Link finally looked at his companion. "Why are you being so cryptic anyway?"

He chuckled. "That's for me to know and you to find out!"

"Did you come in here just to tease me?" Irritation was creeping its way into the Hylian's voice.

His mouth dropped open. He wanted to say, 'no.'

_Dammit_, he thought. _Now I'm getting all jittery_.

So, instead of telling the truth, the Gerudo stood and said. "Maybe. Just maybe."

Just as the other shut the door Link was already staring at the bracelet again.

* * *

Where was he? All the boy could see was a swriling mess of green and black. A weird combo colour to be sure, but he didn't know what it meant. He seemed to be standing _in _the green-black mist, wavering slightly. For some reason, he felt exhausted and Toon Link was having trouble not collapsing.

But as each second passed, he could feel an invisible weight pushing down on him. He struggled valiantly, reaching behind his back for the Master Sword, but it was gone.

"What the hell?" Toon Link wanted to say, but his words came out as silence.

The weight was too much for him now. As, he collapsed, a bright flash of light swallowed his vision. When it faded, he found himself staring at the Triforce.

And his sword was stuck inside it.

Not just his sword though. His Master Sword was crossed through the hole in the triangles with the Master Sword weilded by his other self...

and...

Ganondorf's sword. The bright glowing blade he'd been impaled on was crossing paths with the Master Swords.

Like some sickening coat of arms.

"Oh goddesses, what is this?"

Fiercely, Toon Link wriggled helplessly to free himself from the grip of Din, Nayru, and Faeroe.

Alas, there was no avail.

He fell out of bed with the overexerted force carried over from his dream. As he lay there, tangled in the sheets and his 'cat-eyes' wider than the Hyrule itself, one phrase escaped his lips.

"Don't try to change fate... what the crap?" he added with a gasp.

Toon Link's arms flailed widly as he fussed to free his tiny legs from the blanket. Sweat was bouring down his brow like a leaky faucet (gross right), and his undershirt was gone.

A horrible groan escaped him as he finally freed himself from the blanket.

"Oh poo," was the mumble he chose to utter. "I'm not gonna be able to sleep now!"

Grumbling angrily under his breath the entire time, Link reached for a blue tunic and some tights before pulling on his disproportionate boots and strolling casually out of his room.

The carpeted hallways were lit with a fiery pink coming from the fast approaching sunlight.

"I think I'll go watch the sunrise," he announced to no one in particular "Helps me think." Quietly, so as not to alert the others, the Outset Islander padded across the flooring and up several confusing flights of stairs until he reached the glass balcony doors.

Pushing them open, Toon Link squinted against the harsh sunlight. Realization suddenly struck him like a speeding Rito. Ike and Falco were to fight in the tournament today.

Deciding that such things weren't pressing enough to occupy his mind space at that moment, the boy turned his attentions to his dream. His sword... the _Master Sword_... both of them intersecting with Ganondorf's cursed blade through the "fourth triangle" of the Triforce.

It was a safe assumption that the design simply mate that the fates of the three were crossed. Like duh, he didn't need a dream to figure out that one.

Then there was the factor of the words. _Don't try to change fate_. It was because of that ominous demand that he knew there was more to the dream.

Toon Link studied the Triforce marking on his hand, as if it would give him the answers. Obviously, it did nothing except glow dully in the morning light.

There was a feeling inside of him that the statement had something to do with the ever growing closesness of Ganondorf and his other self. That... well that just wasn't _normal_. Things like that aren't supposed to happen.

Speculation can be a frightening weapon, especially in the hands of a child. Speculation leads to assumptions, and assumptions in turn lead to accusations, and accusations end the conflict in fighting, be it on a small or large scale.

Being the small child he was, he didn't bother try to comprehend the side-effects of speculation. All he knew was that he had to convince Link that Ganondorf was up to something and they had to prevent it before it was too late.

The only problem was, of course, he only had circumstantial evidence to prove that Ganondof was, in fact, working out an evil plot. And circumstantial evidence wasn't enough (he watched a lot of courtroom reality shows with Marth).

Where does one get proof that doesn't exist?

After all, before Zelda's death, Ganondorf had been such a bumhole! Now... well he was still a jerk sometimes, but he was plenty nicer to everyone. And it ruffled his feathers (figuratively of course; he wasn't Falco) how close he was moving to Link.

Another colourful facial expression took place as his eyebrows shot up and lips pursed tightly together. What if... what if Ganondorf was trying to steal the Triforce of Courage?!

_Don't be ridiculous_, his mind told him.

He sighed, pushing the Triforce theft theory aside for two very logical reasons. One, if he was trying to steal the artifact, he wouldn't have waited this long. Ganondorf didn't really have a sense of patience. Two, both Links had the Triforce of Courage. If Ganondorf wanted it, he probably would've gone after Toon Link as he was smaller and considerably weaker than his counterpart.

Than what was it?! There had be something--

Just like that, there was something. Though it may not be evil plot the boy was waiting for, it _was _the delicious smell of freshly-brewed coffee. He turned to see Wolf strolling onto the balcony with a stotic expression on his face.

"I was going to come out here," he stated flatly. "And I saw you. I figured you'd want one."

Toon Link took a cup from the anthro and smiled gratefully. "Thank you."

The response was a rough grunt as the ex-Star Wolf leader took a place next to the cartoon boy on the balcony railing.

"So," Wolf asked, sipping the coffee slowly. "What brings you out here on this fine morning?"

"Bad dreams and even worse thoughts," Toon Link replied casually, as if discussing the shapes of the clouds. "You?"

"You could say that," was the enigmatic reply. There was silence for a while except the slurprs of coffee-drinkers.

"Do you like it here, Wolf?"

Another unintelligible grunt. "It's okay, I guess. Lots of hostility around the house, though."

He nodded in agreement. "Yeah, when the mash friends and enemies together it gets kind of crazy."

"Know the feeling... so... Link, was it? What's going down with you and that odd-smelling Ganondorf character?"

Toon Link giggled, almost shooting hot coffee out of his nose. "Odd-smelling?"

Wolf shrugged. "Hey, I'm a wolf, remember? I have an excellent sense of smell."

An odd idea suddenly popped into the boy's head. "Wolf... what does his smell say about him to you?"

It was a strange question, but the animal's skills with his nose just might give him the information he needed to convince Link to get away.

His companion was thoughtful for a few moments, staring indirectly at the rising sun before saying, "Well like I said, it's odd. He almost smells like...someone who's really confused."

"Confused people have a smell?"

"Everyone has a _scent_... Andross... he thought me at a very young age to learn the scents and link them to emotions and personalities. It's been more helpful than you would think."

"You know," Wolf added, without facing the boy. "He smells an awful lot like you."

"What?!" Link cried angrily. "How dare you... oooh, how could you even say something like that?"

Remaining calm, the Wolf simply put a hand on the boy's trembling shoulder. "Relax, you'll fall off the balcony." He faced the eastern sky again. "You're both confused. You have emotions that need to be sorted out."

Link relaxed visibly. "Oh... I guess that makes sense."

Behind them, the duo of sunwatchers heard the noises of people getting ready to face the day. Right next to them, they could hear Nana & Popo arguing about who owned the green parka in the room next door.

"You know, kid you're not so bad sometimes."

For no reason at all, Toon Link found himself blushing. "Thanks... I... I like you too, Wolf."

Wolf just nodded and jumped off of the railing and headed for the doors. "Later... Toony." And he was gone.

His face went even redder, but he convinced himself it was a sunburn.

* * *

Ike was staring at Ragnell as he laid it out on the bed. This was a very weird type of ritual he always performed before a major battle. Delicately, he traced a strong finger across the heavy, golden blade.

"Ragnell, be strong. Today, we are to cast away the vile impurities that walk this place. Together, we will take care of this foul bird and prove once and for all that I am the best. The only one here who sees things as they truly are."

Ike kissed the weapon gently, then he stood up and walked to his dresser and began to paw through the different coloured uniforms that were folded neatly into each drawer. Finally deciding upon a forest-green set, he was just about to start changing when he heard a rude knock at the door.

"'Ey! Coming down for some breaky 'for yer big match?" Bowser's voice called.

"Get away! What are you, some kind of faggot? I'll be down when I'm ready."

"Alright! Yeesh," Bowser stomped away.

Occasionally, Ike sometimes wondered if he was taking his severe homophobia too far. However, it always ended with him chiding himself with thinking such stupidness. The gods intended for man and woman to procreate together, not for me to... do that. Ike certainly wasn't one of those average straight men who hated gays but loved lesbians. Hell, lesbians were just as bad as the rest.

With a single hand, he lifted the two-handed blade off of his bed and walked to the dining hall with his back straight and a stiff-upper lip. He had to show people who was boss.

As he arrived in the room, he groaned with resignation as he discovered the only seat remaining at the table was next to Link. For some reason, all six of Olimar's Pikmin each had to have their own seats.

Begrudginly, he sat down next to the Hero of Twilight. _It's okay_, he told himself. _He's just sitting next to you. It's not like you have to talk to--_

Noticing him, Link smiled brightly and said, "Good morning, Ike!"

For the sake of not starting any drama prior to his match, he saved graced and shot the Hylian a dirty look rather than pouring out insulting comments, before staring at his plate, which he remembered was still empty.

Naive as he was, the poor Link had no idea what Ike's constant dirty looks and snide comments meant. He turned his ear back to Ganondorf, who at this point was droning on about something irrelavant that had caused his friend to tune him out in the first place.

"...and then he said, 'Ganon, Jack Frost done lost his _mind_! And I said, 'Cold winter, Bubulin! Cold winter!' Can you believe that?!" the Gerudo laughed uproarously, apparently thinking his story was the definition of hilarity.

"Umm, no, I most certainly can't."

Across the table, the other Link and Zelda were arguing about something equally pointless.

"I'm telling you _it's not_!" the boy shouted.

"And I'm telling _you_ that _it is_!" came the female reply.

"No! There is no way that _Juno _is a better film than _Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle_!"

Zelda was fuming. "You haven't even seen _Juno_!"

"Well you havent seen _White Castle_!" Link retorted.

"Of course not! Who wants to see a film about two loser potheads who travel across the country to go to a damn fast food restaurant?!"

"One, I bet you don't even know what a pothead is! I've been here longer than you! Two, who would want to see a movie about some teenage girl who gets pregnant?! It's so unoriginal!"

"_Juno _is an Academy-award nominated independent smash hit! _White Castle _got what? The Stoners' Award for Trippiest Movie of the Month? Give me a break!"

"Oh would you two shut up?!" Captain Falcon yelled angrily while speaking to Gandrayda.

Gandrayda grinned devilishly. "Wait right here. I'll shut them up." Quickly, she morphed and walked up behind Toon Link and tapped him on the shoulder.

The boy in question nearly jumped about fifty feet in the air when he found himself staring into the eyes of his grandmother.

"Grandma?! What are you--?"

"Oh, save it!" the old woman cried. "These nice people are trying to eat and have civilized conversations. So you just sit and chatter about quietly or you'll get a licking so hard you're ancestors will feel it!!" Just like that, the woman was gone.

Gandrayda reappeared beside the captain, still grinning. For the rest of the meal, the Hero of Winds just stared into his bacon with a blank expression on his usually hyperactive face.

* * *

Ike walked back from the group as they all filed outside towards the tournament building. He was chanting quietly to himself and gripping his sword tightly with both hands, brow furrowed in intense concentration.

That was until, a certain cartoon-like hero bounded up to him. "Hi, Ike!" He didn't notice the vein that twitched slightly in the soldier's forehead as he stopped and stared down at the boy.

"Can I help you with something?"

"Whatcha doin'? You're match is about to start."

"I know, I'm praying."

"Oh... you're praying to Din, Nayru, and Faeroe, right?"

Ike gave the boy a confused look. "Who?"

Toon Link mirrored Ike's expression as he explained. "You know. The great Goddesses! The one's who cultivated the land?"

The hero looked slightly hurt as the man began to laugh. "Foolish child. My world is not governed by the lesser species. Women are not held in such high esteem!"

Link was now thoroughly baffled. "But why not? They're people too, aren't they? Where I come from, the goddesses are sacred!"

"Ha ha! Oh my, boy. You've much to learn about the world. Why don't you come with me after the match and I'll teach you how its supposed to go? I wouldn't want you ended up like some of the blasphemous people that wander these grounds." as he said this, he placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.

He quickly pulled away. "Uhhh, no thanks. You seem kinda... I dunno... like a jerk. I think I'll just leave now." He scurried away without giving the other the chance to respond.

Ike shook his head. "Poor kid. He's already been corrupted it seems."

As usual, the thirty-three smashers who weren't participating sat up in the box that floated above the arena, which is currently a crowd full of people surrounding a big dark whole that would eventually fill up with a stage.

Link smiled proudly as the Bridge of Eldin Province in Hyrule materialized before them. They watched as an Arwing flew into the arena and Falco jumped out of it gracefully as it took off. Across the bridge, a small circle with some foreign-looking magic markings appeared. Out of nowhere, Ike warped forth from the circle and crossed his arms.

"I've been waiting too long to take you out, you filthy creature."

Falco, who was a bit taken aback, asked. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I think you know. Dirty sodomists, I'll make sure that faggots like you don't ever show their faces here again!"

The avian's feathers began to bristle angrily. In the V.I.P. box, the Smashers couldn't hear a word that was being said, at the chattered amongts themselves, curiously wondering what the exchange below could be about.

"Hey, who the hell do you think you--"

"WELCOME BACK TO THE NEW & IMPROVED BRAWL TOURNAMENT!!" the loud, obnoxious announcer cut Falco off. Thousands of audience members cheered wildly as the competitors readied their battle stances. Falco pulled out his blaster and Ike drew his blade. Daggers bore into the other's eyes as they faced off, waiting for the signal to attack.

In the V.I.P. box, Toon Link, who had made a point to move away from his other self and close to Wolf, whispered. "I don't like this, Wolf. They look really mad at each other."

Wolf, who was bewildered that the kid had even moved this close to him at all, replied, "Yeah, this one might get messy."

The obnoxious announcer moved forward with his ridiculous introductions. "On the right side is the 'ace pilot' of Team Star Fox! It's a bird, it's a plane! No wait, it's a bird in a plane! Give it up for _Falco Lombardi_!!"

The 'bird in a plane' in question didn't even acknowledge the announcer or the cheers of the fans, focusing only on Ike.

"And on the left side is the man who led a small band of mercenaries in a revolt that saved his kingdom from evil. It's _Ike... something or other! _Give 'im a big hand, folks!"

Like Falco before him, the man didn't even nod at his intro, still giving Falco his best attempt at an evil eye.

"Here on the Bridge of Eldin, you have two minutes to K.O. each other as much as you can! Keep an eye out for those Smash Balls!" A mechanical voice emitted from the loudspeakers and the crowds fell silent.

"3"

"2"

"1"

"GO!"


	5. Tears of Two Animals

**Crystal Nothings II: My Wings Angle Down - The Fallen Lithium**

**Disclaimer: Nintendo, Sega, and Konami own Smash Bros. Brawl!  
**

* * *

Ike hadn't expected Falco to bust out of the starting gate so quickly. The avian rushed him with an unreadable expression of fury. The swordsman barely had the time to put up his bubble shield as Falco's boot rushed to meet his face. He quickly countered with his Quick Draw strike. Caught off guard, his opponent flew backward a few feet, but managed to recover as he hit the ground. Raising his own shield, he blocked another blow from Ike's menacing blade. With a flash, Falco's was firing short beams of taser and Ike through his blaster. The shots hit home, and Ike recoiled in minimal pain as three beams struck his chest.

Seeing his opportunity, Falco leaped into the air and grabbed a Home-Run Bat he saw lying a few feet away.

As Ike reeled back into action from the blasts, they both froze in shock as a sickening roar crept through the still air. A menacing pig-like green monster charged across the bridge. Falco, who was still in midair, avoided the attack easily. Ike however, was not so lucky, and the horns of the creature's equally monstrous steed rammed him full force and he flew straight into the air.

The Star Fox pilot managed to roll out of the way just as a bomb left behind by the monster exploded, leaving an enormous, gaping hole in the bridge and sending the aforementioned bat sailing away.

Aether couldn't save Ike from falling into the blackness of the pit, as he'd realized there was no solid ground underneath him too late. He winced loudly as he struck the blast line and reappeared on a floating platform in the center. Cheers erupted from the stands and people began to chant: "Falco, Falco, Falco!!"

There was one minute to go and Falco was up one point. From the platform, it was not at all difficult for Ike to leap onto the battlefield safely and charge Falco. The bird rolled again, this time sweeping around to Ike's other side.

Unfortunately, there was no time for poor Falco to realize that Ike's blade was stuck in the ground and there was a massive eruption of flame that sent him jetting into the air. For a moment, Falco was afraid he would pass through the midair blast-line. Wringing his body to the left, he managed to stall in midair. This was enough to send him plummeting towards the ground...

Into the blackness.

"Shit!" he cried. Flames appeared around his feet as he once again fell still in the air. With a shriek of "FIRE!" he launched himself upward and managed to grasp the edge of the bridge. Just as the blue-feathered man pulled himself up to be face-to-face with Ike, a strange black portal with animated green markings appeared, and just like that, the bridge was back to normal with thirty seconds left on the clock.

Falco kicked his Reflector forward and it struck Ike just as he was about to swing the golden blade. He stumbled back as about six Falcos all rushed through him at the same time. In the back of his mind, the warrior couldn't help but feel like the attack had just passed through his soul as he struggled to recover. Before he knew it, one lone pilot was straddling his hips...

And beating him in the face as hard as he could with the blaster.

"You..." he hissed along with one strike.

"Mother..." Two.

"Fucking..." Three.

"BASTARD!!" Four.

"Don't you _ever _talk about me or Fox, or Link or _anyone _here like that _again_!" Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Both of them lost track as adrenaline cursed through the assailant's veins as he relentlessly pistol-whipped him.

"GAME!"

Thanks to the simulators, Ike felt little actual pain from the bludgeoning, but he had been in no position to move. As the sun-streaked bridge faded away into a stadium crowded with fans, everything changed.

The 'fans' in question had all but fallen silent. Fox had raced out of the V.I.P. box as fast as the Roadrunner itself. All the while, Falco continued to strike Ike.

Without the simulators, Ike felt _intense_ pain and blood flowing from his nose as the unrestrained strikes hit again and again. Coherent, logical thought was out of the question as all sane mindsets faded into numbing pain.

The obnoxious announcer had nothing to say.

Falco was near tears now, his attacks becoming weaker and weaker as the natural drug faded from his systems. Finally, he stopped, dropping the gun on the concrete next to him and crying silently.

Out of nowhere, Fox dragged his somewhat deranged lover off the homophobe and sat him down on the ground.

"Falco?! Falco, what the _hell_ is wrong with you?"

At that moment, the announcer chose to speak, only without irritating gusto. "The winner is... Falco...?"

Despite the loud, booming drone of the megaphone, Falco remained silent. Tears of anger and exhaustion staining his uniform. Reality hit him as it were a speeding battleship as Fox's distraught voice reached his ears.

"Goddammit, Falco!! If you don't tell me why the _fuck_ you just beat him half to death, I swear--"

"He..." Falco sputtered weakly, with the taps still on.

"What?"

"...called us sodomists. Said we were disgusting. Made me... so angry. I'm sorry, Fox. I just..." After a deep, shaky breath and the wiping of his tears, he continued. "I just love you so much. I didn't want anyone to talk about you that way."

After the word 'sodomists' reached his furry ears, the rest of the story became just a blur. He twitched visibly, though no one noticed. Dr. Mario had carted Ike off to the infirmary where the comatose angel still slept. The announcer was gone, the audience was gone, even the other Smashers had gone, whispering in astonished tones at each other. There was only one Smasher left in the group, and he _had _seen the twitch. And his name was Wolf O'Donnell

* * *

Toon Link had wanted to stay to watch what was going on, but a rough tug on his tunic forced him away from the match and through the halls that would lead to the portals, which in turn would take them back to the mansion.

"Jeez, would you let go already--"

"No," Link replied stubbornly, Ganondorf and Sheik at his side, with Zelda trailing behind them. "That ain't something you guys needed to see."

"Give me a _break_," Zelda moaned, rolling her eyes in exasperation. "One, I've been a pirate for my entire life. Two, he's the freaking Hero of Winds. We're no strangers to this kind of stuff you know. And three, if this stuff _was_ 'too violent,' or whatever kick it is you're on, we wouldn't have been invited to this tournament."

Only half-listening, Link gave his captive a frustrated glare. "Does she have to make sense all the time?"

"No," Toony replied, mocking Link's previously stubborn tone. But he knew he wasn't lying as he recalled a time when she'd launched him into Ganondorf's fortress inside a giant barrel from her ship.

Speaking of Ganondorf...

The young Link managed to wrestle his way out of the older man's grip, boring his eyes into the back of the ex-villain's head the entire time.

Okay, so he had to look _up_ to do that, but oh well, it works.

Sheik, who had been silent the whole affair, finally spoke up. "I wonder what that was all about anyway. I know Falco is hot-headed... but it is certainly not like him to behave in that such way."

"Must've been serious," Ganondorf muttered lazily.

Seeing his chance, one of the two children jumped in. "Nobody cares what _you _think." Ganondorf's agitated expression was enough of a reward to combat the steely glare of Death that lurked in Link's eyes.

Usually, dramatic events caused everyone to cluster into the main room to discuss and/or gossip about them. On this day, people were too exhausted the gossip. And various groups of two, three, and four drifted tiredly in alternate directions, of to take their minds away from the situation with some undoubtedly dull, hapless task.

Among the drifters were Link and Sheik, who wandered off whispering too each other before the Gerudo had the chance to get an earful of the conversation.

He sat on the couch and massaged his forehead with his abnormally large fingers. Bowser, who was grinning like the idiot that he was, sat next to him and spoke.

"That was one sick fight, wun't it?"

"No. It was foolish and probably didn't have a point."

"Well, y'all can look at it how y'all ar' wantin' too. I think Ike said sumen about Falco's boi-toi!"

Now interested, Ganondorf turned to his moronic friend. "Do you think so?"

"Fuckin' 'ay," Bowser replied, holding a can of cola that looked to be about the size of a thimble in his grasp. "Why else wud he 'tack 'im like dat?"

"Can't you speak proper English?"

"Naw, ne'er been to school. What with the evil-doings, and schtuff."

Leaving Bowser to ramble on to the walls, Ganondorf drowned himself in thought. Could Ike have provoked Falco's vicious assault by commenting on his relationship? If so, could it not be that he had similar feelings towards Link, or anyone else in this place who happened to have... alternate sexual preferences?

"I don't want anything like this to happen again."

"Pardun?"

After a deep breath, he repeated. "I don't want this to happen again."

"Whut?"

"This discrimination! The drama! The hate! I can't stand it!" Ganondorf stood, a mission on his mind. "See you later, Bowser." With a swish of his black cape, he was gone.

Boswer shook his head. "Dat dere Ganon got no consept of privacy."

Ganondorf had gone with Link to the infirmary enough times to figure out his own way there, with only mis-step which led to finding Captain Falcon and Gandrayda making out in one of the huge storage closets. The captain, who happened to be sitting on a pile of about ten mops, just gave him an irritated glare and slammed the door.

Finally reaching the infirmary, the Gerudo pushed the door open without hesitation. He didn't so much as glance at Pit as he strode by his bed, and approached Dr. Mario, who was tending to Ike's wounds, whom was conscious the entire time.

"How are you doin'?" Ganondorf asked Ike directly.

"He's-a got a broken nose and-a few scars underneath-a his lip," Dr. Mario answered for him. "Ike will be-a up and about in-a couple of days."

Ike wasn't really listening to them, just staring at his fellow patient who was sound asleep across the room. Ganondorf's eyes travelled along Ike's eyes. Pit was looking quite ashen and gaunt now. He didn't have that glow of radiance that he supposed had attracted Link to him in the first place. The King of the Gerudos couldn't tell for certain, but it looked as though he was starting to lose some of the hair on his head to the hair on his face, which would, understandably, be from not getting enough nutrition.

Dr. Mario hobbled off, sensing the tension in the room. "Don't be-a too long, Ganon," he called over his pudgy shoulder. "I have to-a close this place-a down soon."

The recipient of the warning just nodded, not even looking at the doctor, still staring at Pit.

Without moving his head, he asked. "What happened out there? Why did Falco... do that?"

"You mean beat me senseless. Because he's a faggot, that's why."

Ganondorf's lips pursed, trying to look nonchalant about his response. But the gears in his head were turning. So his suspicions were correct. Ike was a homophobe, and Falco was a homo you just happened to have a boyfriend that he'd wanted to protect.

After a while of silence, Ike added, "I hope that fellow over there wakes up soon. Maybe he and I can be friends and do something about the impurities in this place!" Ganondorf didn't have to follow his pointing finger to know he was pointing at Pit.

"Um, I don't think so, Ike?"

"And why the blazes not?"

"Because," he said, trying to stifle a laugh, "he's gay too, you know." Controlling his giggles became even more difficult when all of the colour drained from the bed-ridden warriors face. Suddenly finding a floor tile very enticing, he began to speak to it, mumbling various derogatory phrases such as, "no... these fags are everywhere," "dirty sodomists," and "traitorous filth."

"Ike," Ganondorf interuppted sternly. The mutter's trailed away and colbat blue eyes snapped at Ganondorf. "What do you have against homosexuals anyway? What did they do to you?"

Ragnell's wielder just sighed and began fiddling with a cloth bandage wrapped around his left hand. "Nothing. Not to me, at the very least. But in my kingdom, these people are executed. There are considered abominations, impurities, filth."

"Why? That's one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard!"

Ike turned beet-red with anger. "Don't question the authority of my kingdom! I don't know about _your_ land, where you let those little abominations run free and do as they please to whom as they please. I'll not see it happen at home!"

Quietly, he interjected. "Well, one of those 'little abominations' just happened to be the Hero who saved the entire world, so for us to execute him, or any homosexual for that matter, just because they _are _in fact, gay, would be kind of hypocritical." After his explanation, the Triforce of Power didn't bother to mention that the Hero had saved the world from _him_ but that was irrelevant to the conversation.

"_Well_," Ike said, clearly mocking Ganondorf's explanatory tone. "Maybe if you had killed the faggot in the first place, then you could've found a wholesome, well-being hero who had the right values."

"They don't choose the Hero. Fate does."

"Shows how much 'fate' knows."

The Gerudo's face grew stony with repressed anger. "Now I can tell why Falco beat the shit out of you. You're more disgusting than any gay person!" His cape swished about haughtily as he left the room, leaving a bewildered Ike behind.

* * *

The two Star Fox lovers were laying in the leader's room, Fox playing disinterestedly with the feathers on Falco's chest.

"You've always had anger problems," Fox commented aloud. "But I didn't think you'd be willing to go that far. You broke his nose, Falco!"

"Did you hear what I said back at the stadium. That horrid name he branded us, treating us like we were lower than a pile of a homeless person's shit?"

"Calm--"

"No, Fox, I am _not _going to calm down! You wouldn't be defending him if you had heard some of the things he said!"

"Falco, I'm not defending anyone. You know that saying, 'to each his own.' It means that everyone is allowed to have their own opinions, whether everyone else likes them or not."

The blue-feathered avian jumped off of the bed and stood in the middle of the room, eyeing the vulpine that was still on the bed. "So what you're saying is..." he began, "that we should just let this guy walk around this mansion, where we all live together, and let him talk shit about us to the others?"

"I don't see what the big deal is. It's not like anyone agrees with his views." Outside, the words came out confident and self-assured. Inside, he was fighting an emotional battle, and he wasn't sure which side was winning.

Of course the word 'sodomy' had struck a chord within him, it was a painful reminder of his first true rejection... from Bill... And Fox hated that Ike had to feel that way and be so biased, but there wasn't anything they could do, right? He reminded himself carefully of the words he had just given Falco. Ike might have used... that word... but that didn't mean everyone else here agreed. In fact, there were rather supportive.

"Fox? Fox! Are you even _listening _to me anymore? Answer, dammit!"

Quickly snapping back to reality, he was tripping over his words. "Uhhm, er... yes, yes I do."

Falco's face drooped. "So you weren't listening," he said flatly.

Fox was silent, tail swishing intently, waiting on the conclusion.

"Since it's clear," Falco went on. "That you don't give a damn about me, or our relationship, or anything we have together--"

"Woah, woah, woah!!" Fox cried, no longer content with just waiting. "Where the _fuck _does that sort of mentality come from?"

"I'm trying to defend us here. Trying to get you and me the respect we know we deserve so we can love each other without regret, and you're treating this whole thing like it was just a minor robbery... in _Venom_!"

"We would love each other without regret anyway..." Underneath his fur, Fox paled violently. "...Wouldn't we?"

"Yes! I mean... of course! Why wouldn't we?"

Fox narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Falco, are you having second thoughts about me? Because if you are, you need to open that damned beak of yours and tell me right now!"

"No, Fox! I love you!" Falco cried, running over and wrapping his arms around Fox. "It's just... I don't us to have to date under the scrutiny of other people."

The avian was rather surprised when he found himself laying on the floor staring up at Fox, still sitting on the bed with his arms folded.

"So that's it then," he said. "You regret loving me."

No response.

"Please, Falco," Fox said, hints of pleading creeping into his voice. "Please tell me that I'm insane, that you could never regret this, that... oh god, please say something!"

Still no response. Falco's beak was pointed at the floor and his eyes were wide open, as if trying to burn a whole through the carpeting.

"Falco...?" Tears were finding the second of three anthropomorphic animals very quickly. "Falco..."

_Don't let him see you cry. Get him out of here, then ball your furry eyes out_. Briefly, he wondered if anyone could have furry eyebrows. This brief, comforting, distracting thought was torn from him when his blue-feathered companion spoke up.

"Fox... I'm sorry."

The vulpine swallowed the basketball-sized lump that was clotting his vocal passage, while biting back his tears and his urge to forgive him right on the spot. Doing all of that at once is a lot more difficult than it sounds.

"Just... just go away," Fox said with a shaky sigh.

Unable to hide his surprise, the response was, "...What?"

"You heard me," Fox repeated, his confidence finally returning. "I said go away. I don't want to talk to you anymore."

The beak hung open as if Falco was going to say something. Fox supposed he couldn't think of a decent response, as he simply got up and left. Pausing in the open doorway, he cast one last, longing glance at his lover. When Fox didn't call him back, he simply left, his dejected head hanging down in front of him.

A tiny _click_ signaled that the door was shut and Fox could cry. And that's what he did.

His eyes filled up like tiny snow globes that were filled with melted snowflakes. The tears created tiny tracks in his light brown fur as they trailed down his face and his throat emitted choked sobs.

Why was he love with such a douche bag? Right now, Fox McCloud hated his love for Falco Lombardi. Falco could be so _mindless _and so _blind _to everyone else's feelings.

Yet Fox loved him anyways.

"Damn," he said to no one in particular. Grabbing a tissue from his nightstand and blew his nose, using the back of his hand to dry his tears. "I need a drink."

Since Fox didn't want his friends to see him like this, he sat there for a few minutes allow the buckets to empty.

_I don't feel like answering any questions today_. He checked his watched. Holy shit, it was only two o'clock in the afternoon.

"Bah," Fox scoffed, still talking to himself. "I don't care, I'm going for a drink anyway."

Almost like a cat, he slid gracefully off of his bed. In the mirror he straightened up his slightly rumpled clothing, wiped his eyes one last time, and stepped into the hall. It was deserted save for the Mushroom princess who strode passively. down the hall, disturbingly cheerful as always.

"Hi, Fox!" she called cheerily, knowing well enough not to bring up the morning's events.

"G'day, Peach," he replied nonchalantly as he passed her.

She brushed off his rather rude actions and called after him, "Whe're you headed?" she asked in a sing-song voice.

"Drink," he stated bluntly, still moving.

Confused, Peach glanced at the Timex she had hidden underneath one of her gloves. "It's two o' three!" she cried. "In the afternoon!"

Fox acknowledged her observation with an uncaring wave of his hand. He continued walking, passing by Nana and Jigglypuff, who were giggling and chattering excitedly about the results of _The Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious. _At least, that's what he could gather from Nana's side of the conversation.

"Jiggly, jiggly, jiggly!"

"O! M! G! I'm soooo happy that Nichole got innnnn! I LOVE her!"

"Jigglypuff puff!

"Oh, I KNOW! I didn't like Charlye at ALL!"

At the back of his mind, Fox briefly considered how on Earth Nana could understand the Pokemon. But the thought was fleeting, and he returned to focus: Alcohol. The soothing, yet somehow painful, comfort of a alcohol was a few hallways and a flight of stairs away.

Once he had passed through said few hallways unhindered, who should be coming up the stairs but Mr. Wolf O'Donnell himself. Their eyes locked, and Fox froze on the landing. Wolf's lips threatened to twitch their way into a smile, but he managed to bite it back, however significantly slowing his pace up the stairs.

_This is unreal_, Fox thought. _This ain't happening. I'm already drunk, I'm already drunk, I'm already --_

"Hey, Stranger!" Wolf said with a teasing grin.

_I'm already talking to Wolf._

Finally, his bodily functions seemed to unlock themselves and he managed to brush past the lupine, muttering, "You know who I am." Fox knew how the comment had been intended. They hadn't spoken since arriving here. And for the sake of avoiding extreme awkwardness and to reach his alcohol, Fox decided that it was best to keep it that way. Alas, he ceased walking again as Wolf shouted after him, the undeniable slide of a smirk following.

"You wouldn't be heading down to Wario's new bar at two seventeen in the afternoon would you?" Damn, what was with everyone having the exact time today?

"Wolf, I'm afraid you know me too well."

"That I do." Fox shuddered as he listened to the sound of the star pilots boots resonate off of each step. "You got room for one more?"

Obviously, he considered rejecting the lupine. But what the hell, he was in pain.

"Sure, why the fuck not. We'll have a great time." His new companion ignored the sarcasm and followed him towards inebriation.

* * *

**A/N: If you're wondering about the Girlicious reference, I was forced to watch it last night because I couldn't get on my computer to write, I wasn't tired enough for sleep, and my thirteen-year old sister already had a stake in the TV. Go figure. I figured since I'd watched it, might as well throw a reference in!  
**


	6. Assumptions

**Crystal Nothings II: My Wings Angle Down - The Fallen Lithium**

**Disclaimer: Nintendo, Sega, and Konami own Smash Bros. Brawl!  
**

* * *

It was a quaint little self serve bar. There was a large, rather intimidating refrigerator that contained endless types of alcohol from Dream Land all the way to the Lylat System.

Fox had avoided the foreign drink for rather obvious reasons, but some gentle coaxing from Marth drew him to the Altean rum he was headed for now. Wolf watched this with mild amusement.

"I would think that you would instantly go for Lylat stuff?"

The reply was, "You of all people should know how easily I can be persauded."

With a chuckle, he agreed. "Yeah, I guess I should." Shrugging, he poured himself a glass and laughed again as Fox made a face from the burning sensation of the drink pouring down his throat.

"You never could handle alcohol too well, McCloud."

"This is _wayyyy_ too familiar. Are we in a time warp?"

Wolf remained quiet as he quietly took to the rum. It was quite good actually, and Wolf had a much higher tolerance from alcohol than Fox did.

"You look upset," Wolf stated bluntly after draining a shot. "Normally, you don't try to get this drunk unless you're down about something... Last time we got drunk it was that Bill asshole."

"Bill wasn't an asshole," Fox mumbled defensively. "He just didn't understand."

"Right," Wolf sarcastically agreed, "That's why he tried to have you arrested right?" He gave a triumphant, toothy grin when he wasn't offered a response. "So what? Your newest accquisition got you in the asteroid field?"

"I highly doubt you would get it."

"Wow, that hurts. Especially coming from you. After all of the shit we did together, I think i would 'get it.'"

"Don't talk about that. As far as I'm concerned, that never happened."

At that comment, Wolf downed another shot of the rum. "Hey, just because your BF is losing interest, you don't gotta insult me."

In an instant, Fox McCloud had him pinned to the floor, snarling angrily, his eyes containing the same wild look of rage that Falco had earlier that day. "You know, Falco beat the shit out of Ike today. And if you don't _shut the fuck up_, you might get a similar treatment, dirtbag."

"Get off me. You know you won't touch me." Fox felt even more enraged at Wolf's sense of calm and smugness. But he knew he was right. Sighing in defeat, Fox released the other pilot's collar, climbed off of him and back onto the bar stool, another shot of rum already waiting for him.

Next to him again, Wolf asked, "I guess my statement got to you, huh?"

"Whatever."

"Well, was I telling the truth?"

"The farthest thing from it."

"Then it would do you well to explain, wouldn't it?"

"Not to you, Wolf."

"Come onnnn," Wolf purred, edging closer to his drinking buddy. "You can to talk to little old _me, _can't you? After all, we did--"

"Nothing," Fox finished quickly. "Absolutely nothing."

Much to his own surprise, Fox could tell that Wolf was now genuinely upset. "Aw, hell, Fox. How long are you going to drown yourself in alcohol and deny what we had. You _know _you loved it. Why do you have to pretend?" The big, bad Wolf knew he was whining now, but he didn't care. Dammit, he wanted ansers.

Instead of answers, he got a snide comment. "I don't exactly see you pushing it away," he said, referring to the shot glass.

"I'm frustrated and you're denying me some goddamn answers."

"I already told you, mine and Falco's personal life is none of your business."

The ex-Star Wolf leader could feel his cheeks burning underneath his fur, and he leaped off the stool and glared at an astonished Fox. "Jesus, how fucking _dumb _are you?! Don't you get that I don't _care _about Falco? I don't _care _about you and Falco? That I _care _about you, and you _only_?"

The rant was interuppted by approaching voices.

"Oh, I _know_!" Princess Peach was saying. "It's absolutely scandalous!"

"Definitely," Marth replied. "I just can't believe that Nana would even--"

They stopped dead as they entered the bar and saw Wolf leering at Fox. He snapped his head around and glared daggers at the duo.

"Uhmm," Marth said nervously, "Maybe we should go--"

"No," Wolf cut him off, turning back to Fox. "We were just leaving."

"What? No we weren--" Fox's argument was broken short as claws wrapped around his collar and yanked him away from his comfort juice. Wolf dragged the vulpine away, right past a dumbfounded pair of prince and princess.

After watching them disappear for a few minutes, Peach smiled brightly and continued on with her gossip as if nothing had happened. "So Marth, wait 'till you hear a juicy piece of filth that I picked up about Toon Link..."

The Altean Prince grinned and faced the bar. "Hey... the rum's already out!"

Wolf and Fox now rested in the ill-fated courtyard where so many battles and arguments had taken place between Smashers.

_Kind of ironic that he would bring me here_, Fox thought, his mind swimming with the feeling of being tipsy.

"Fox," Wolf snapped, his eyes still sharply narrowed.

"How how how the hell are you not even drunk yet?"

"I can handle myself better, dumbass."

"Hey well that's not... that's not... that's not fair."

"Oh really?" A bemused lupine asked.

"Y-yeah!" Fox replied. The poor vulpine was loosened up by drink enough to tumble drunkenly onto the grass, staring listlessly up at the clouds.

Not unconscious, Wolf realized with a sigh of relief.

"Ah what the hell." Grass shifted and was crushed under the burly muscle of a pilot as he joined the other in watching the clouds go by.

* * *

Ike was staring out the window tiredly. The pills that Dr. Mario had pratically _thrown_ at him did wonders to relieve him from the pain in his broken nose. Damn fag. He was ashamed he'd let himself get his ass whooped by that rump bandit.

"Rump bandit, huh? I haven't heard that one yet."

The swordsman rolled his eyes. He had to stop talking to himself out loud.

"What?" he asked Falco irritably.

"Fine, then. I guess you don't _want_ an apology."

"Very well. Go away, then." So much for reverse psychology.

"Whether you want it or not, you're getting an apology today." His eyes narrowed, still boring to the injured one's. "But only because I get booted from the tourney if I don't."

All he got in return was a grunt.

"But before I apologize," Falco added, his features softening. "I need an answer to one easy question."

"Is the question, "what do I have against gays?"

"Bingo was his name-o."

"I already told the tall green fellow that I hate them because my country hates them."

"Just because your country hates them doesn't mean you have to!" Falco protested. "Why does your country hate them?"

"Because," Ike stated, as if the easy were as simple as cherry pie. "They go against the wishes of the gods. Men and women are meant to procreate. Two men or two women cannot procreate."

Falco chose that moment to play the trump card everyone else was afraid to use. "If the godds hadn't intended for their to be homosexuals, then wouldn't they have created people couldn't think to live like that? That such a way of life was impossible?"

_Oh my god. The faggot bird has a point._ Flustered, words poured uselessly out of his mouth, trying to defend the ways of his homeland. "Uhmm... well... I... you see..."

"Exactly," Falco concluded. "Gay people did nothing to you, so you have no reason to hate them."

"That's not ture!" Ike exploded furiously, unable to move much due to the pain in his nose and the blood being pumped into his system. "They... you people... affected me personally."

"How? What did we... I mean 'they...' do?"

* * *

Unlike Fox's dark and rainy recollection of that fateful Cornerian night, Crimea sported sunny blue afternoon skies and the land was abuzz with celebration. Ike and the Greil Mercenaries had just defeated King Ashnard and recovered the Fire Emblem. Crowds jublilantly lined the streets and the local shops were booming with business as the new Queen of Crimea led Ike and the rest of his team through the streets to proudly display her hero to the populace.

"I can remember what a wonderful day that was," Ike's words cutting through the memory. "Everyone was so happy." His face and voice grew dark. "Then... _that_ happened."

As the Crimeans continued to wave and the women blew kisses to the heroes, there was a rippling scream that silenced everyone. The floats carrying the victory parade screeched to a halt. Everyone listened intently as the scream came again, this time followed by short shrieks.

Ike, at this time no stranger to danger, leaped off the float he shared with his Queen and his team and rushed towards the source of the scream, Ragnell in hand. Darting and weaving through astonished townspeople, he rounded a sharp corner and stopped dead in his tracks.

A young boy, no older than sixteen was laying on the cobblestone street. He wasn't screaming anymore. The poor thing had been reduced to tears.

Above him was one of the most monstrous men the mercenary had ever seen. Large, bulging biceps and a mustached, yet bald, head loomed over the defenseless child.

"You're mine tonight you little shit," the assailant was smiling. When the frightened boy gave an almost inaudible whimper of protest, Ike couldn't make a movement or a sound as the man wrapped a large, meaty hand around the kid's throat. "Shut up!" he hissed. "You'll alert the--" he froze when the young man's eyes went wide as saucers, staring right past him. Slow as a snail, the rapist turned and smiled devilishly at Ike. One by one, each finger released its grip on flesh until the sixteen year-old dropped to the ground, panting and gasping for breath.

"Run along, little shit," he said, almost gently. "I've got some bigger, _sexier_ fish to fry."

Ike felt a strong chill rush angrily down his spine. "You... you're sick."

"And you're coming with _me_!"

With a mighty roar, the blunette charged his opponent, eyes blazing.

"Oooohh, big scary hero with the big scary sword," the man said nonchalantly, almost as if he weren't being charged by said big, scary sword.

Ragnell gleamed dangerously as it swung through the air--

and struck nothing.

"H...huh??" Ike looked around. The assailant was gone. He breathed a sigh of relief. Standing up straight, he stared down at the assaulted boy. "Looks like I scared him off." He reached a comforting hand down. "Here, let me help you--"

"Don't think so. Name's Terin, just thought you should know."

Ragnell clattered to the ground, its weilder not even getting the chance to cry out as he was swallowed by blackness

* * *

"Do you get it now, faggot?"

Tempted as Falco was to say, "No, I don't get it," he knew that this was a sensitive issue, so he remained silent.

"Falco, I was raped. I can't even possibly begin to tell you what that was like for me."

Surprised, they looked into each other's eyes again. "You called me by name...?" Ike, who was looking rather shocked himself, just nodded. "Yes, I suppose I did."

"So that's why you hate gay people."

"Isn't it good enough of a reason?"

The "I'm-not-gay-I'm-just-into-Fox" bird closed his eyes and rubbed his temple's in thought, trying to choose his words delicately and carefully. "Ike... I understand what happened to you is something no one should ever have to go through..."

"But?"

"But... its not really fair for you to discriminate against the rest of us for it."

"..."

"There are rapists who attack girls too you know. I don't see you executing all of the straight people."

"That's not the same!"

Eyes narrowed into tiny, furious slits, Falco found himself screaming uncontrollably. "_How isn't it? Huh?! How. Isn't. It? Rapists are rapists, no matter who they rape!"_

Falco's cries had drowned Ike into submission. Rant over, he realized that the object of his anger was staring out of the window.

He was completely gone from the room. Mentally, anyway.

"Fine, fuck you too. Asshole."

Several other words of profanity escaped his beak as he stomped righteously out of the room.

* * *

"Ha! I sunk your Battleship!"

"Oh, poo..."

Lucas and Ness always found Battleship to be an amusing little game. Strategy, cunning, and pure dumb luck was all it required.

Hat turned backwards and hands on his hips, Ness grinned triumphantly at his defeated PSI-powered friend.

"Play again, Lucas?"

Pouting, the blonde crossed his arms. "Why, so you can beat me again?"

"Yeah!"

Still smiling, Ness sat back down and the duo began to re-arrange their ship in new locations to be randomly guessed at in the hopes of destryong them.

Ness's eyes were narrowed in concentration. His tongue stuck comically out of the left side of his tiny lips, and he was studying the game board as if it were Porky's latest plans to destroy the world. By the way his arms moved about so wildly, one would assume he were moving a thousand of the tiny plastic boats. Lucas new knew better though. He knew that his friend was moving the six gray vessels around in various different places, trying to both pick the best setup, as well as trying to confuse him.

Mewtwo was reading on the couch nearby, while Sonic was brutally focused on an electronic game on the televison. Neither seemed to notice, or care, that Sonic was practically in the Pokemon's lap.

"So, Ness..."

"Mmmmm?" he replied, still frowning down at the board.

"I heard Peach talking to Marth earlier..."

"And?"

"She said some pretty interesting stuff."

"It seems like Peach always has something interesting to say."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, but this was _really_ good."

"Well, don't keep me in suspense," Ness scoffed, half sarcastic and half curious, even while still giving fifty percent of his attention to the game. "What's this _really _good thing Peach had to say?"

"It's about Link..."

"Which one?"

"Toony."

Fingers stopped moving and beady black eyes were immeadiately at Lucas's attention. "Well?"

"She... man I shouldn't say anything..."

"Ohhhh, no!" Ness cried, now completely focused on him. "You're not going to reel me in and not tell me. That's just mean."

"Alright! Alright fine!" Lucas said with a hint of exasperation. "Peach thinks that Toony has a crush on Wolf."

An eerie silence blanketed the room, save for the gentle flipping of pages and the angry mashing of buttons.

"Come _on_!" Sonic shouted at an unresponsive TV. "That freakin' red energy orb was MINE!" Mewtwo just rolled his eys at his... err... _special friend's _immature behaviour.

"Could you be anymore childish?"

"That's why you love me." Mewtwo blushed a deep scarlet and immeadiately buried his nose in the novel again.

The red-capped boy's face contorted in a strange way, and for a moment the hatless was unsure if it was at Sonic or at the strange revelation.

Suddenly he began to giggle. Giggles turned to chuckles, and chuckles turned to hysterical laughter.

"Ahahahahaha!! No. WAY! Geez, Luke. You can't believe everything Peach says. I mean, there are lots of gay people here, but _Toony?_ No. WAY!" he explained, wiping happy tears from his eyes. As soon as he'd started laughing though, Ness grew thoughtful. "Then again, I guess you can't blame them all for being gay. The chick pool isn't very deep here. More like a puddle."

"You never know Ness. Maybe he _does _have a thing for Wolf..."

Horror slowly crept across the other boy's delicate features. "Oh, lordy. _You're_ not coming out to me are you?"

"Ack! _God _no!" Lucas swore, thoughts of Te... Zelda briefly occupying his mind space. "I'm just saying..."

Fears of Lucas coming out of the closet forgotten, Ness just shrugged and faced the game board again, fingers once more at work. "Huh. Well if he does like Wolf, that's his problem. Wolf's a jackass."

"That's only because you poured green hair dye in his shampoo. It took him _six hours _to wash that stuff out."

"Heh. I've always loved that prank. It always works better on people with fur."

* * *

Sunset came, and the next match -- Olimar and Dedede -- had been made available to the house and was scheduled for the next evening.

Link always enjoyed watching that blazing fall of fire sink beneath the western horizon. It was a gorgeous sight to behold. Beautiful, comforting, and oh-so relaxing. Leaning back in the chair the adult Hylain had brought with him, he leaned backwards and stared nonchalantly at the stars which were slowly beginning to appear.

_Light-years away is a long time to be gone_, he thought. _Sometimes I wonder if it will take light-years to straighten out my mess of a life._

"Hey!" called a random voice out to the balcony. "It's munch time. Come get some grub!"

Rolling his eyes at Wario's choice of slang, Link sighed and picked up his left the lawn chair behind as he followed the garlic-lover into the building.

"So, whas' on your mind, blondie?"

"What?" Link blinked slowly. "Oh, uh... nothing. I'm fine."

"No, you ain't," Wario chided him. "Trust me. I dated Princess Peach for seven months, I know when blondes got a problem."

"You... dated Peach?" The Hylain found that very difficult to believe.

"Yeah... she dumped me though because Mario was starting to catch out trail... Oh shit... uhhh... you never heard nothin' 'bout Peach from me, y'hear?"

He nodded to acknowledge that the statement had been understood. "So Link? Whassup?"

Cerulean blue eyes dropped to the carpeting in thought. Wario may not be the _best _choice for a confidant. But on the other hand, he _was _a neutral party to his situation, which Toon Link wasn't, unfortunately.

"Does i' got anythin' to do with feelin's?" Wario asked suddenly.

"In a way, yeah, it kind of does."

"Ack!" the anti-plumber cried out, waving him off. "I don' know nothin' 'bout feelin's. Me and Peach were all about teh sex, know what I'm saying." With that, he dashed off, hoping to get some of the roast beef that they could now smell.

The green-capped Hero just chuckled and followed Wario's stinky trail towards the kitchen, stopping only when he'd reached Ganondorf's room. The door was open, and the Gerudo was naked.

Well, there was a pair of boxers. Same difference.

Link had never looked at Ganondorf sexually, but he figured now was as good a time as any to start. Thankfully, Ganondorf had gotten rid of that stupid crown and cut his hair back down to the way he'd worn it during the days of the Hero of Time. Do-gooder lips parted in mute delight as he watched Ganondorf's back muscles and buttocks ripple as he searched through his dressers for one of his uniforms.

"Dammit!" he cursed aloud. And turned around, giving Link a nice view of his abdominals, and the nicely-sized bulge in his--

"Gah! Link!" Mortified, he quickly covered himself with the blanket from his bed. "What the fuck, man?"

Blushing madly and giggling like a little schoolgirl, Link just said, "Dinner's ready."

Ganondorf, whose red eyebrows were knitted together, nodded curtly. "Okay, I'll be with you shortly." The door closed with a loud bang.

Still smiling, Link continued his interuppted journey towards the kitchen, lost in thought again.

_Okay, so I just checked out my mortal enemy and my best friend. What does this mean?_

_It means that you like Ganondorf_, the voice of his mind spoke up.

_...Cool. I can live with that._

But what about Pit? Link sighed. He was in a coma now, his opinion didn't matter much. They would just cross that bridgewhen they got to it.

_Okay, I'll be with you shortly_.

"Yep," he said aloud, smirking. "You'll be with me shortly, indeed."


	7. First, Second, & Third Kiss

**Crystal Nothings II: My Wings Angle Down - The Fallen Lithium**

**Disclaimer: Nintendo, Sega, and Konami own Smash Bros. Brawl!  
**

* * *

"Ahhhh," Fox sighed contendedly as he sat up in the bed. "That was quite the night. I must say, I am still most flushed."

"And sore?"

With a girlish giggle he repated, "Yes, sore. You dirty, dirty bird."

Grinning, Falco sat up next to him, propping his head with his and elbow digging into the sheets. They stared at each other for a long while. Before any form of protest could reach his ears, the avian leaned down and began nipping gently at various parts of the vulpine's body. In between each gentle touch, he said, "Oh... Fox. I love you... so much. You... mean everything to me. I could never... _ever _regret what you... and I have together. You are my world."

Fox used that giggle again and blushed. "Oh, stop it, Falco! I'm turning red."

Suddenly, a husky, considerably deeper voice asked. "Who the hell is Falco?"

Rolling his eyes, his blushed faded and he smiled. "Whatever, _Falco_. Role-playing was _last _night's game!"

Suddenly, Wolf appeared in his peripheral vision, eyebrows knotted in worry. "Fox... are you not feeling well. I seriously have no idea what you're talking about?"

His previously pleasured body went rigid with fear. "Wolf... what are you...? What have you done with Falco?"

Sitting fully, tail swishing apprehensively, Wolf was staring hard at him now. "Okay, what is going on? Fox, have you been cheating on me or something?"

No reponse.

"Fox?"

...

"Fooooxx..."

...

"Fox!"

"Ahhh!' Shooting up from his part-dream, part-nightmare, he angrily rubbed grass from his eyes.

"Morning sunshine," Wolf replied with his trademark sarcastic grin. "It's eight thirty at night. I think we both fell asleep."

Looking around irritably, he noticed that the other one was right. The sun was setting to the west of the courtyard, casting dark shadows arcross the area in which they had decided to take a nap in. Great, now he wasn't going to get any sleep _tonight_.

"You should quit with the drink. Makes you pass out before the fun happens."

Turning his irritatation of the ever-conversationalist, he asked. "Do explain to me what you mean by 'fun?'"

"Sarcasm, you know. I'm quite good at it."

Half-lidded, narrowed eyes bore into him. He hissed, "Still waiting on that explanation."

Deciding that it would be best to mirror that gaze in this tense situation, Wolf obliged him. "I _mean _that tonight we were supposed to talk about everything. Hopefully get some damn closure. Maybe close this huge gap between us. But whenever I've tried to talk to you, you don't listen!"

"Consider the following. I don't _want _to listen to you anymore, Wolf. I think I did enough of that all of those times that we fucked."

Wolf bared his teeth. "I thought that never happened."

"Shut up. I know it did, and I know there's nothing that can be done to change that."

"Fox!" Wolf cried, sounding almost pleading. "Why would you want to change it?! You and I both knew that there was something between us!"

"_Please, _Wolf!" came the scoff. "I never felt a goddamn _thing _for you. Our little romps in the bedroom were only there when I couldn't--"

Silence came as Wolf performed the rather deliberate, and childish, art of kicking dirt in Fox's face.

Spitting the natural habitat for the second time in ten minutes, Fox wiped his mouth and asked, "Are you for real?"

"Nope, but I am _now_!"

The Star Fox team leader cried out in pain as Wolf's fist got better accquainted with his abdomen.

"Ughn!!" Wolf screeched, as his agressor retaliated with an equally painful boot in the face. He stumbled back, holding the good side of his face and grumbling various expletives under his breath.

Claws quite literally came out as Wolf took a furious swipe at the vulpine, said claws ripping through thin air as Fox deftly jumped backwards, dodging the attack. Using another kick as a counterattack, he nailed Wolf in the leg causing him to trip and do a face-plant into the earth.

"Asshole," he muttered as he spat blood.

"Chauvinist."

"Can't use that word in this context. I'm not discriminating anybody," he pointed out calmly.

Fox used this carefully-planned distraction to take a scratch at Wolf with his own claws. The lupine grunted and put his hands over the flesh wound.

"Check and mate," Fox stated proudly.

"Oh yeah?!" Wolf's boot nailed him between the eyes. Hard. Fox stumbled backward towards the M_elee_ memorial--

As a flash of blue-gray fur tackled him, sending them both toppling into the _Melee _foutain that poured from the statue.

With nearly one hundred and twenty-five pounds of pure muscle on top of him, sopping wet,a nd his rear-end smack-dab against the bottom of the pool, it was all Fox could do to wrap his hands around the lupine's throat and begin to squeeze. Wolf responded in a similar fashion, leaving them both struggling for air. Both began to pant hungrily and bore their knife-like gazes into each other. White dots began to trace paths across Fox's vision. Soon, consciousness would evade him. O'Donnell wasn't faring much better, his tounge beginning to droop uselessly.

Each animal in the fountain knew that their faces were drawing closer and closer together, likely from the force of the choking they were giving each other.

Who else should be casually strolling through to the living room but the mansion's biggest gossip, Princess Peach? She stopped, and stared at them with an expression that showed a mixture of panic and amusement. Certainly a combo that could only be pulled off by herself.

The very fabric of time itself seemed to slow suddenly, as if the duo were going into warp-speed on the Great Fox. Water that trickled thorugh the holes in the statue grew steadily more sluggish, then stopped entirely (at least, in their minds it did), and the gloved hand that was reaching to cover a heavily lipsticked mouth in surprise stopped dead in its path. This wasn't actually happening of course, but, again, it was as if it were as they finally crashed their lips together.

Ironically enough, their hands were still clenched tightly around each other's throats, though not with such intensity. That energy had been transferred to ravishing each other's sopping wet lips as hard and as ferociously as they possibly could. As their hands slid away from each other's necks it hadn't occured to either of them they were still in the fountain.

"Awwwww!" Peach exclaimed. "That's soooo key-UTE!" She dashed off to spread the news.

Not on the accord of the Mushroom princess, Fox and Wolf pulled apart and stared at each other again, eyes sparkling.

"God," Fox growled huskily. "It feels _so damn good _to taste real lips again."

"Not to destroy the moment," said Wolf nervously, "but you do know that Peach just saw us making out in the foutain and dashed off."

"So?"

"_So_," the edge of mockery was there, "you know how much of a gossip that Peach is. This will get around in no time... Come to think of it... we've encountered her a lot today. Wondering why that is...?"

Warm blue eyes shot wide in fear. "No... Falco!" Struggling, Fox managed to clamor his way out of the water, his fur drenched.

"Fox, wait!" The equally drenched lupine climbed out after him. "You can't just run away now!"

Looking bemused, he rasied an eyebrow. "Why not? We ran away from each other every time we fucked!"

"This is different! That kiss... that wasn't lust. Please don't deny that you didn't feel something there."

From bemusement to shame, Fox stared at the ground where they had wrestled before. "I won't Wolf. I can't." Levelling his gaze, he continued. "That was a moment of weakness on my part. Even if I do have feelings for you, it's just not in the cards right now. I'm committed to someone else. That requires my full attention."

Just before he stepped inside the mansion, still dripping, he said with a dejected sigh, "I'm sorry, Wolf O'Donnell." White-tipped orange tail flitted out into the house, on its way to stop the inevitable spread of rumor.

Growing remorsefully deep in his throat, Wolf didn't even bother going after him. He simply headed back in the direction of his room in search of the nearest dry towel and a warm, comforting bed.

* * *

"Oooooh. I'm simply flushed with _excitement_!" Peach yelled obstensibly, busting into the living room, where the vast majority of the Smashers had grouped together.

Everyone simply continued talking as if the pink dress hadn't spoken. "Guys! Pay attention to me! I have something I must tell you all this instant!"

She still didn't receive a second glance. "Come on," Peach began to whine. "It's super-duper important!"

Flipping her blonde hair in a dangerous sign of growing agitation, she waited. Unfortunately, no one paid any mind to that perilous flip of her weave.

"_Everybody shut up! My turn to talk!!"_ The command was obeyed by the entire group instantaneously as all pairs of eyes turned on her, waiting for her big important news. "Thank you."

"What is it, Peach?" asked Meta Knight.

"Alright, so... who would you least expect to making out in the fountain in the courtyard?!"

"Kirby en' the Peeker-thin'?" Bowser suggested.

"Mewtwo and Sonic?" someone else piped up.

"Olimar and his Pikmin?"

"Actually, I can see that one happening."

"Well," Peach said, deliberately building as much tension as she could. "All of those guesses were wrong, though the one with Olimar was certainly legit."

"_Hey_!" the stubby spaceman screamed.

"Any more wagers?" The room buzzed loudly with silence. "No? It was _Fox and Wolf_!" The announcement immeadiately sent ripples of murmured conversation through the room.

The Master Sword clattered to the ground as it slipped from its shorter owner's clearly shocked fingers, who had at that moment been perching it precariously against Kirby's throat for swallowing his boomerang.

"I'm sure that's horrid news for a _certain _Smasher in here," the Mushroom leader went on. Her chatty eyes stopped on Toon Link, quickly enough to offer him a small wink, but it was fleeting enough that no one could point out where it had been directed.

While Toon Link certainly found it to be horrid news (obviously, this was whom Peach had in mind), Zelda could think of one person who would find it all the more troubling.

_Falco_.

Like an analog clock whose batteries were slowly running out of juice, the chatter in the room began to ebb, until all eyes and heads were tuned on the avian, who was sitting on the couch nonchalantly reading, _Cooking for Dummies_.

When he glanced up as he was turning the page and noticed all of the eyes trained on him, he asked, "What? Is there something on my beak?"

"Did you not hear what Peach just said?!" cried a random Smasher.

"Yeah, I heard." It would seem as though Falco didn't give a damn that his boyfriend had been making out with his rival, in the fountain no less. The muttering kicked up again, this time in confusion as to why he didn't care.

Suddenly, Falco slammed the book shut. "I'm going to my room to finish reading. The air in here is too _irritating_." Stressing the last last word, he stomped away without a backwards glance.

"Guess that's that!"

"So Fox and Wolf are an item now, huh?"

"Meh, let's go back to playing _Mario Kart Wii_."

"Has anyone seen my ear?"

* * *

A quick pit stop in the main bathroom to grab a towel was the only detour Fox made as he dashed to Falco's room, trying to smother the flames of gossip before they burned the whole mansion down. Reaching the familiar blue door, he sucked in a deep breath of explanatory air and knocked on the wood.

Falco answered promptly, and raised an eyebrow curiously. "Fox, my friend. Good to see you. To what do I owe this surprise?"

"Falco, let me inside now. We need to talk."

"Certainly. Come right on in." He held the door wide and made an inviting gesture with his arm.

Aside from the _click _of the door closing behind them, nothing about the room seemed to be familiar. Fox felt like he was standing in the room of a newcomer. Why?

All the pictures of them were gone. The only one that remained was of the whole Star Fox team standing in front of General Pepper, holding medals and smiling proudly. But every meticulously taken photograph of Fox and Falco together, kissing, cuddling, playing, anything... they had all disappeared.

"Hey... where did all of our pictures go?"

The avian chuckled and pointed to the Star Fox photo on the mantle. "What are you talking about? It's right there!"

He whirled on his innocent-looking lover. "What am _I _talking about? You and me... together! They've all vanished just like R.L. Stine!"

"You dumped me." The words were simple. Plainly stated, without a hint of emotion. "I don't like to keep pictures of my exes."

Biting his lip gently, Fox disagreed. "No I did _not _break up with you! I was just upset about all of those awful things you said to me yesterday!"

"Well you must have dumped me, because according to Peach you were smooching it up with Wolf in the _foutain_! How many times did I ask you to do that with me? A hundred! And how many times did you say yes? Not once!"

"That was an accident."

"So what you're saying to me is that you _accidentally _jumped into the fountain with Wolf and _accidentally _started kissing him?"

"Yes!"

"That's one of most absurd things I've ever heard in my life," Falco scoffed.

"But it's true!" Fox protested. "To tell you the truth, Wolf and I were _fighting_. We fell into the water and... things got kind of heated... and then they just got... _hot_!"

"Yu-uck." Falco made a face.

"I'm sorry I cheated on you Falco, but you made me feel like shit when you told me you regretted us!"

"Oh yeah? Did you now? Well prepare to feel like shit again, because now I regret it even more than ever. Go cry to Wolf, Fox. You and I are over like _Friends_."

The vulpine's jaw dropped. "How could you dump me and pepper in a random celebrity reference at the same fucking time?"

Shrugging, Falco said, "Dunno. Just felt that the over-ness of _Friends_ would help enunciate just how finished we are."

"Whatever. If that's the way you want it, then fine. I don't need you anyway." Fox made sure to give his tail a good flick in Falco's face as he strode out and slammed the door behind him.

After slamming his own door, he sank to the ground and cried his eyes out.

* * *

Yet another door was being opened when a shy fourteen-year old Link knocked gently on that of Wolf. The anthro opened the door and was rubbing his dripping fur furiously with the towel.

"Hey, kid. What can I do you for?"

"Hi, Wolf." _Damn it, Link. Quit being so shy and just TALK! Say something! _"I, uh... heard what happened today and thought you might like someone to talk to." _Goddesses that was corny. You gotta work on your pick-up lines!_

"Sure, I guess. That would be cool."

_Yay!_

"Wanna come inside?"

Toon Link had never been inside Wolf's room before. He guessed Zelda had been right when she said there was a first time for everything. Much to his surprise, it was very well-kept. There was an enormous shelf next to the window that contained huge volumes of books. He couldn't see a single wrinkle in Wolf's sheets or the uniforms that hung in the closet near the bed. The only noticeably messy thing he could find was some papers and a few pens that were strewn about on his desk. Was Wolf a writer?" "Toony, what are you gawking at?"

"Oh... sorry. It's just, I didn't expect your room to be so clean."

"Yeah... I can't stand having a messy room. My motto is: Cleanliness is next to hotness!"

"That doesn't make any sense at all, whatsoever." Deciding to change the subject, Link pulled up Wolf's desk chair and sat backwards on it, with his short legs dangling on either side of the backing. "So what is going on with you and Fox."

Wolf gave a sigh and plopped down onto his matress. "I wish I could tell you, but I haven't the faintest idea myself."

"Well you kissed today right? Doesn't that make you guys a couple."

"Not neccessarily. I could kiss _you _right now, but that wouldn't have to make _us _a couple!"

_You can try... _Toon Link thought, then mentally slapped himself. "Why not?"

"Kid, let's just say that being a grown-up is tougher than you would think."

"It doesn't have to be!"

Wolf was amused, "Oh, really."

"Well sure! You just have to know what you want."

With another sigh that had more in common with a hiss, Wolf looked down at the carpet. "That's just it! I don't know what I want." Looking up again, he smiled at his companion. "That's what I love about you, Toony. You're so sensible. Wish some of that would rub off on me."

Inside, Toony was being attackecd by a swarm of butterfiles. _He said he LOVES ME!_

_No he didn't, _that common sense remind him. _He said he loves ONE THING about you. Quit being so lovesick. You two ain't gonna happen._

"You wanna try being a grown-up Link?"

The boy grinned his trademark playful grin. "Sure."

"Okay. Here goes... What do you want?"

Oh damn. He was hoping that when Wolf said 'try being a grown-up,' he'd thought he meant shaving, or masturbating or something. But it was a simple question that him want to melt through the floor.

"I... err... I..."

"Do you know what you want?"

"I do... I'm not sure I can tell you."

Wolf was staring at him now. "Try me, I promise I won't laugh at you."

Toon Link knew he should go for it. Wolf was practically _begging _him now. Reminding himself to play it cool, he knew while he might not laugh, Wolf still might not react well. Play your cards right, Link.

"I want to be kissed."

Wolf smiled, but it was genuine, friendly smile. Not a mocking one. "That's all."

"Yes. I've never been kissed before."

That feeling of wanting to melt through the floor hit him again with a vengance as he found Wolf's lips pressed against his own. Bliss overtook him, and he tried kissing back, but he wasn't sure how. Wolf guided him, gently probing at his lips with that long tongue. Nervously, he opened them a little, and found their tongue's wrestling for dominance.

It was one of the most wonderful feelings he'd ever experienced.

But just as quickly as it had began, it ended, as Wolf pulled away and grinned at the dazed expression.

"How was that?"

"I...incredible," Link smiled. "Thanks, Wolf."

Chuckling, he said, "Glad I could help. Just don't tell anyone about that, okay?"

"No problem!" he replied brightly. Those butterflies had returned, and he knew he wanted to kiss Wolf again. "Ummm, thanks for everything Wolf. But uh... I have to go... clip Kirby's toenails." It was the lamest fake excuse he'd ever used, but he dashed out of the room before he could be question.

He'd just gotten his first kiss from his first real crush. Life couldn't have been sweeter at that moment.

Wolf could almost picture the little cloud of smoke that followed him as he ran off. It made him laugh, yet furrow his brow in worry at the same time. Had he weirded the boy out with the kiss? No way, he said he liked it. Maybe he was going to test his new found skills on that Zelda girl. He laughed again.

Did Kirby even have toenails? Or toes for that matter?


	8. Taste the Grief

**Crystal Nothings II: My Wings Angle Down - The Fallen Lithium**

**Disclaimer: Nintendo, Sega, and Konami own Smash Bros. Brawl!  
**

* * *

To cite a quote of an American novelist, "One of the most tiresome questions in the world is what you would bring to a desert island. Most people say 'a deck of cards,' or '_Anna Karenina_,' while the most obvious answer is, 'a well-equipped boat and crew to take me back home where I can play all of the card games and read all of the Russian novels I want."

From Link's point of view, and even more irksome question was "What would you do if you were stuck in a love triange?" Being as naive as he was, Link never expected to _be_ in such a situation, and yet here he was. The most obvious answer is also the most difficult one to follow thorugh with: "Pick the one I want."

Damn it, he _knew _which one he wanted, but he was too scared to follow through. His mind was plagued with too many questions. What if he doesn't feel that way about me back? What about my pre-existing, currently suspended, relationship. How will I deal with rejection? What if something were to be stuck between my teeth when I went to confess?

There were too many inquiries to recite, and they grew more tedious and unconsequential as the list moved down.

Maybe he could be anonymous and sneaky about his feelings. Some people found that sexy.

Others found that annoying and frustrating. Great. Peachy. He didn't _know _what was and/or wasn't sexy to Ganondorf. He was knew at this whole 'flirting' thing. Goddessess, Link had hooked up with Pit when they were sparring and the angel had jumped him and kissed him.

Yeah... it kinda went from there. Link knew he had to give Pit credit for his boldness. Perhaps if he were more assertive like that, things would be running more smoothly, like a brand new stick of butter or a good movie. When it came to combat, the Hero of Twilight brought his assertive A-game. But love? Eh, not so much.

Link smiled at the weather outside his bedroom window, cradling his blanket in his arms, wearing nothing but his boots. It was his little secret. He felt sexy when he wore only the boots (Pit had told him so, too). The sun shone through the glass and teased his soft, fair, muscled skin and his brown-blonde locks. It filled the Hylian with a sense of calm, belonging, and joy that was rarely felt amongst the chaos of his tournament home.

Swear to the goddesses, some of these people were psychotic. After learning they were to battle, yesterday Olimar and Dedede had chased each other about the courtyard, Olimar throwing his White Pikmin as hard as he could at the penguin in order to poison him into a forfeit. It had ended with several dead plant-monsters and one very disgruntled Dedede.

Still grinning, Link reached out and flipped a switch on the sill, letting the cool breeze waft in and play with his flesh. Pure, utter relaxation and bliss took over and he his ocean-blue eyes, letting daydreams take him.

He imagined that the soft winds from outside were Ganondorf's hands, splayed out across his flesh, touching, rubbing... _exciting_ him. In the dreamland of Link's mind, he and the Gerudo had returned to Ordon together. They would take over the barn once Fado got too old to do it himself. They would live in Link's house like they had before, only now they would share a bed. Every morning Link would wake up and see Ganondorf laying next to him, and all would be right with everything...

Eyes cast downard, Link realized he'd gotten a little _too _excited.

All the while knowing how... _odd, _to say the least, it is to have these kinds of thoughts and feelings about someone who is supposed to be your worst enemy. In his mind, he knew that he should be stalking him at night, looking for the perfect time to creep up and kill him with the Blade of Evil's Bane. But in his heart, he knew that he should be stalking him at night, looking for the perfect time to creep up and kiss him with the Lips of Hero's Feelings.

Sighing at the stupid analogy, he stood up and began to rummage about for his gold tunic. It was time to quit sitting about and pay a visit to the library. Reading always helped distract from life's nuances.

Fully dressed, he stepped casually into the hallway, and looked about for signs of activity. Strangely, the mansion was quiet. Dedede and Olimar weren't to fight for another couple of hours. There was no way everyone had gone to watch already? Deciding to shrug it off, he turned right and made headway for the library, humming a jaunty old tune to himself as he moved.

When he reached the door to the vast island of books, he sighed. Everyone in the mansion had always teased him for coming here. Especially Ganondorf. Link and Meta Knight were pretty much the only two Smashers that ever came to get lost in a good story. Apparently, reading was for 'chumps' and 'losers.' Whatever, he didn't bother worrying about because he knew he could kick any of their asses on the field of battle.

The heavy mahogony door slammed shut behind him. Rushing over to the fiction section, he used his right index finger to browse along the spines of the books.

_There was one I wanted to finish reading but never got around to--_

"Ike?!"

Indeed, it was Ike. At the moment he'd been spotted, the warrior was flipping through a non-fiction book from the shelf opposite them and his eyes were wide with surprise and a touch of... fear?

Tilting his head on a guestimated 30 degrees, Link read the gold-embroidered words on the spine.

"_The Homosexual and You_? Why in the names of the Goddesses are you reading that?"

Ike was blushing madly now, tripping over his words like a newborn calf trips over its legs. "Uhm... well... I was... you... I... Falco... sorry... gotta go!"

Ragnell's weilder botled before the Master Sword's weilder could ask for clarification. Just as he reached the block of wood between Ike and his freedom, the book still clutched tightly in hand, he yelled back, "I'm sorry, okay? I was being immature!"

Then that was that. Ike left, notably still running.

Link smiled, his vast naivete making him wonder what in the world Ike was apologizing for. Oh well, at least he was nice about it.

He didn't have to return to his search for long, because almost as soon as he turned around, he saw the one he was looking for. Grabbing it, he moved to leave the library, until he ceased movement when he saw the third attendee of the library today.

Ganondorf was across the large room, scanning a shelf with a furious intent in his eyes. His left thumb and forefinger were stroking his chin thoughtfully.

_God he looks hot when he does that..._

It occurred to him that after all of the teasing he'd been handed, here was Ganondorf in the library. Time to get revenge on a cold dish... was that how the saying went? Oh well, it didn't matter. It was high time he got Ganondorf back for all of that.

Quietly as a fairy, he tiptoed up and down aisles, praying his target didn't move. Strangely, he didn't. He simply stood there, flipping through the book he was holding, smiling, frowning, and then smiling again.

Link was a mere two aisles away now. Ganondorf was going to get caught in the act! Creeping closer and closer, he was one aisle over, he was going to _make it_--

And damn it all to the Evil Realm, Ganon _moved_. The book was shut with a _snap_ and the Gerudo was making his way towards the exit. Link didn't have a choice, stealth wasn't going to save him now. It was time to pull out the spotlight.

"Hey, _you_!"

A dull _thud _was heard as Ganon jumped about ten feet into the air and dropped the book. Before he had the chance to come down from the surprise, Link already had the book and was scanning the cover.

"L-Link! Give me that!"

Swiping his arms out of the ex-King's reach, he read. "_What to Expect When You Want a Man: A Guide To Making Your Steamy Gay Romance Work. _From the authors of _What to Expect When You're Expecting_." Astonished, Link stared up at his crush. His Hylian features showed a cross-section of unbridled amusement, confusion, and jealously all at the same time. For the second time in the past five minutes, he asked, "What're you reading this thing for?"

Unlike Ike, Ganondorf kept his cool and just smiled evilly. "That's none of your business."

He grabbed the book out of the Hero's hands and began to stalk off.

"Wait!" Link yelled after him.

"...Yes?"

"I just wanted to tell you that... whoever you want to impress using that book... go get 'em."

Ganondorf smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Link. I'll talk to you later okay?"

Link just nodded and Ganondorf disappeared. Suddenly forgetting why he'd even come here in the first place, Link simply left his book behind and headed for the arean one full hour early to watch Dedede and Olimar's match. Not that he gave one shit about the match anymore. He'd just found out that the guy he adored was pursuing someone.

Fucking delightful.

* * *

Olimar, his Pikmin, and King Dedede were on Toon Link's pirate ship drifted leisurely across an ocean more vast than any of them had ever seen before. They had two lives each.

The captain, who had entered the match with a mere three Pikmin on hand, quickly plucked three more out of the ground below them and rushed Dedede. Picking up the first creature in line behind him, he hauled the purple Pikmin at Dedede. It struck its target with shocking force and Dedede cried in simulated pain.

The whole battle went on much in the same way, with Pikmin and Waddle Dees being tossed randomly about the ship. Olimar called upon his ship and Bulborbs to do serious damage twice thanks to Smash Balls, and came out the victor.

Dedede skulked away before anyone could leave a comment, swinging his hammer around glumly.

On most occasions, Link would stay for drinks after congratulation the victor. But he didn't feel like it today, especially not with Ganondorf and his raging jealously both present.

Excusing himself politely, Link headed for the courtyard, needing some time to think things through.

For the first time in quite a while, he thought about Pit. The boy who was once his angel. The boy who once meant everything to him. Were his Zelda here right now, she would have called him: 'such a teenage boy.'

And he knew he was. Committment had never been an issue before. He'd saved all of freaking Hyrule hadn't he? But love had been a new thing, especially so soon after chucking his feelings for Princess Midna out of the door.

Pit had made him feel so... alive. So loved. Exhilarated.

Perfect.

Where had all of that gone? When did his world get shot to hell? The answer, no doubt, was when Ganondorf decided that being a douchebag was no fun anymore. And that pissed him off.

Link knew that the tears were coming again before they even sprang to his eyes. Leaking like a broken faucet, he made it to the courtyard and settled into the grass, staring at the Melee monument where Fox and Wolf had supposedly made out.

"Hey, elf,"

Link smirked. He loved and hated Ganondorf's pet name for him all at the same time.

"I figured you would be at the celebration."

"Meh," replied the Hero with a shrug. "Just not in a socializing mood."

After settling in the grass next to him, Ganondorf said, "I know what you mean."

Suddenly, Link remembered the incident in the library earlier that day with the book. "So how was your reading?"

"Freakin' excellent," was the smooth reply.

"Learn a bit about the art of seduction?"

Ganondorf laughed at the joke. "Obviously the whole damn thing wasn't _all _about seduction. Though it definitely came up." That wink, Goddesses Link loved that wink. "I did learn something really useful from that thing, though?"

Intrigued, Link asked, "Oh, and what was that?"

"..."

"..."

"Can I kiss you?" the question had come from the Gerudo.

Without even thinking about his previous tears for Pit, he said, "Yes. Yes you can."

And he did.

It was bliss. Unadulterated bliss that made him want to evaporate into those muscled arms that encircled him as the kiss drew them in tighter.

Briefly, Link pulled away to ask, "So what were you saying you learned?"

"The book said," the instigator began with a chuckle, "that I shouldn't be afraid to go for what I want. And I'm glad I did."

After that, words were meaningless as Link stumbled into a world of pleasures that one would normally consider forbidden.

* * *

Elsewhere in the mansion, in the room of the Hero of Twilight, buried underneath a frighteningly large pile of socks, a bracelet began to glow with an angry and violent energy. The entire dresser drawer was consumed by this light as one by one each letter carved on each delicate jewel disappeared, never to return to the stones again.

T.

O.

G.

E.

T.

H.

E.

R.

F.

O.

R.

E.

V.

E.

R.

With a _bang_, the bracelet of Crystal Nothings exploded and the tiny shards were scattered about the room like a shattered window or windsheild of an automobile. For but a moment, the shards hung suspended in the still air of the room, as if to give a final warning.

A warning to he who had broken the eternal bond. Severed it instantly with just one kiss.

* * *

Brown eyes fluttered open weakly. They shut again almost immeadiately, nearly blinded by the sudden light that filled them.

A head ached and throbbed dully when the boy's eyes slowly slid open, though with heavy protest. Trying to sit up, his back groaned in refusal, and he found himself falling back against the pillows, overwrought by tiredness.

Tiredness that had been brought on by a sleep that lasted almost a year. Of course, to Pit, that hadn't fully registered. All he knew was that he was inside the infirmary of the Smash Mansion and that damned machine he seemed to hooked up to was making an infernal _blipping! _noise that grew more irritating with each passing minute.

Trying to distract himself from the device, he turned his attention to the field outside the window--

And gasped in shock and horror.

Samus's and Zelda's tombstones stood erect, clear in the afternoon sun. Pit read the inscriptions over and over again, but the idea that two of the tournament's best fighters were dead just didn't click in his brain.

_What happened while I was sleeping? _he thought.

"It hasn't been that long, has it?" he added, aloud.

Time to pull into the ole' memory banks, Pit, he told himself. The angel needed to piece together the past to figure out what was going on in the present.

There was... a monster. This monster... it had a name. Pit knew it did. His brain was still in a tizzy from his long, long slumber. Ah, yes! Dark Samus! The creature had been some horrid mutation of Samus. Someone had killed it. But then it came back in the form of some hideous beast.

Smash Balls came to mind out of nowhere, and he remembered that Samus had taken one of the balls. There was a Zero Laser, Zelda's weird magic...

Dark Samus was gone, and the two women had both been killed, Pit realized.

And the resulting blast had thrown him into a coma. It was the only explanation that made any sort of sense. The only one that fit this strange new puzzle Pit was trying to play.

How long had this coma lasted?

"How long?!" Pit asked no one in particular.

The single most important memory of all suddenly hit him like a bolt of lightning from Palutena herself.

Link!

Oh dear goddess Palutena, was Link alright? Giving another quick look-over of the infirmary, he sighed with relief as he noted that he was the only one in the room at the moment. Pit's next sigh of relief was even louder, when he remembered that no tombstone outside read, 'Link.'

That had to mean that he was okay.

This was all too much for the poor soldier to take in at this one time. The big thing right now was finding Link and kissing him with all of the strength he could muster.

Unfortunately, not enough strength could be mustered to pull his exhausted body out of bed. It was no use. The coma had left him a tad unfamiliar with his bodily functions. Of course,sleep hadn't been lost on him, and he was already feeling his eyelids grow heavy with fatigue again.

This time, he would just sleep--

"Yaaaawnnnn..."

--for a little while.

"I love you, Link."

* * *

When the angel came to again, he cursed himself for waking up in this room for the second time in a row. Pit also noticed that his clothes and few personal possessions were folded up neatly next to his bed, indicating that Dr. Mario had been here and realized he was up for good.

"Time to get the hell out of the bed!" he yelled. Sitting up was a much simpler chore this time around. As was standing up. And stretching his arms outwards in all directions and smiling at the burn he felt in his arms and wings. It had been too long, even if he still wasn't sure exactly how long it had been.

Were he a young infant just learning to walk, that first step wouldn't have been very encouraging, because Pit hissed in pain as he felt something sharp stab without remorse into the underside of his foot. Damn, he knew he should've put his sandles on. Lifting his right foot, he examined his inorganic attacker. A thin trail of blood was trickling slowly from the wound, headed on a crash course for the perfectly-tiled floor. The object itself resembled a piece of glass. Yanking it out, it glinted brightly under the light. Obviously a very fine jewel of some sort. Pit reached up into a cabinet above his bed (he'd been in the infirmary enough times to know this), and grab a band-aid. He slapped it over the cut caused by the fine jewel and threw the shard in the garbage without a second glance.

The sun had long since set. Before stepping out of the room, he read the calender next to the wall.

Dear Palutena, it was _May_. The... the... the 'incident' happened in _September_. The wall clock read 2:14 AM. Great, nobody was awake and he needed more than six months worth of explanation. Comas sucked, he decided.

For the first time since waking up again, Pit cracked one of his trademark mischeivous smiles. So everyone was asleep. That was fine. All the better to surprise his lover with when he woke up in the morning.

He shut his eyes tight as could, pulling every ounce of strength from every body part he could, and channelled it all into his wings. Several harsh flaps later, Pit was in the air, gliding down the hallways so as not to wake anyone, especially Link.

Having just woking from a near-death sleep, he was quite disoriented and ended up flying through the front hallway about four times before finally reaching Link's door. which, conviently enough, was _open_.

Closing the door quietly behind him, Pit crept over to the bed. He could see the lump, with its chest rising and falling slowly. The angel smiled into the darkness.

"I'm coming, Link."

As he approached the sleeping furniture, he peeled over his toga, leaving it in parts behind him as he got closer. Finally, fully naked, he closed in and climbed into the bed next to the sleepng Hero, who immeadiately wrapped his arms around him and pulled him close.

"Jeez, Link," he whispered into the blackness, "Your hands have gotten more calloused since I've been gone!" He smiled again, and nestled into the warm arms. It was a concern that would have to wait until morning. It felt so good to have that body heat back again. Pit wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

He drifted off again, knowing he would wake up and get everything at least _somewhat _back to normal.


	9. Colouring Outside the Lines

**Crystal Nothings II: My Wings Angle Down - The Fallen Lithium**

**Disclaimer: Nintendo, Sega, and Konami own Smash Bros. Brawl!  
**

* * *

Poor Sandbag didn't stand a chance against Falchion. Marth may not have been the strongest of fighters, but his agility usually unmatched by anyone, except for Fox, who'd always had his uncanny ability to out-run him in any situation despite those enormous boots he liked to wear. That Sonic seemed to be quite the speedster too, especially when he caught him rushing towards the (first) psychic Pokemon's room.

The blue-haired man always wondered why that was.

He leaped into the air, blade in hand. Stalling in the air, he began to chrage the weapon as he floated gently back towards the platform below. As more and more energy was channeled into it from the Prince's hands, his body and Falchion were surrounded by a sickly blue aura.

When Marth touched the ground, the sword could not take anymore power and he swung it with all of his might, making sure to strike the bag of sand with the very tip of the sword right between its unseeing eyes.

"Ha! My speed takes over again!" Marth cried triumphantly. "3, 485 feet!! And that's without big, scary, Rag--"

The rest of the name of Ike's blade was cut off as a brief flash of screaming white wings streaked by him nearly at the speed of light.

"Damn," Marth swore as he watched Pit run, "He's fa--"

The Altean Prince was cut off again as another, much darker streak rushed by, moving equally quickly.

"YOU WINGED RAT!!" Ganondorf screamed. "YOU'RE GOING TO GET IT!"

"AAAAAAAHHHHH!" was the reply.

Somewhat comically, Marth could almost _see _the trail created by the rushing feet on the carpeted hallways.

"Guys, stop it!" a familiar voice cried. "I'm sure it was just an accident!"

Link, moving considerably slower than the other two, stopped running upon reaching Marth, panting and gasping for a little air for his deflated lungs.

Marth, being the kind soul that he was, helped bring Link to his feet and drape an arm around his caped shoulder.

"So, what in the world was that all about?"

"Ugh.. gasp, argh... Oh, man was it ever... awk-WARD!" a panting Hero of Twilight said.

"What happened?"

"Well, Ganondorf was rooming with me, and..." he paused his story, blushing furiously at the look he was given, before continuing, "and... when we woke up in the morning, Pit was lying on his other side, all wrapped up in his arms!"

"So what are you going to do?" Marth asked, his effeminate features providing a mixture of confusion and amusement.

Link smiled warmly with his eyes shut as he stared up at the ceiling, taking a moment to think. "Well... I'm sure it was just an accident. I mean, he _did _just awaken from a coma, and they probably ended up curling up together in their sleep. It's no big deal. I'll set them straight."

Marth stood motionless, staring blankly at the other swordsman for a while. Had he heard Link right? He'd just brushed off the whole incident as if his ex-boyfriend hadn't just awakened from a seven-month coma. He was acting as though... some random guy that he lived with that he didn't know that well had just awoken from a seven-month coma.

"Link?" Marth asked, tight-lipped.

"What is it, Marth?"

"That's all you have to say? I mean... that's Pit. Pit. _Pit_?" Marth repeated the name again and again, wondering if it would somehow register through auditory memory.

Link gave a grin. "Yeah, great kid. Real big help during that Dark Samus thing! Didn't really know him too well, though. I mean," he chuckled, "it's not like I was _dating _him or anything, right? It's not something you make a big deal over."

Weapons clattering against his back, the Hero dashed off without another word, probably to stop a highly likely case of first-degree murder.

Marth just stared even after he disappeared around the corner. Didn't know him too well...? Not like they were _dating_? This was so strange. Not only had Link and Pit dated, but Pit had done the very equivalent of damn well proposing marriage! Then he saved all of their asses from that freaky Samus clone.

What was going on?

It wasn't very prince-like to swear. But the blue-haired monarch couldn't stop himself from doing so in this extremely odd situation.

"Some weird shit is going on around here."

* * *

The angel's sandals made panicked _flap, flap _sounds on the carpet as he dashed down the hall, nearly bowling over Mr. Game & Watch and R.O.B. who were having some strange discussion.

"Beep, _beep_!"

"Most observant, Mr. Game. You _are _paper-thin, whereas everything else here is not."

"Bip boo beep bip!"

"It is certainly a strange phenomena. On the Isle of Ancients, where I come from, we never experienced things as strange as this."

"_BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP_!"

R.O.B. didn't have time to heed the 2D man's warning as Ganondorf blasted him into the roof as he rushed past, chasing after Pit.

The robots wheels rolled about in circles in a futile attempt to break free of the mortar that bound him.

"Mr. Game," R.O.B. stated in his flat monotone. "Some assitance. I'm afraid Gandrayda is currently whacking me on my cranium with a hair-dryer."

"Ugh!" came the shape-shifter's voice from above. "Who knew robots were such perverts?! Get _out_!" A frightening sound in close proximity to that of a Final Smash was heard, and R.O.B. hit the floor hard, and sat there dazed for a short time.

"Bip?!" Mr. Game & Watch asked in a concerned beep?

"Circuits rebooted," R.O.B. stated. "All operations back online. That was quite a fall..."

Three hallways and two staircase ahead and below that scene, Pit was still running for his newly reawakened life. "Get away, Ganondorf! I should be chasing you! You were sleeping with _my _boyfriend!!"

Flapping furiously, Pit managed to avoid a dark sphere of purple energy that exploded near his foot. He touched back down and continued running, knowning he moved faster that way.

"I'm afraid you lost your boyfriend when you decided to take a _nap_!" The Gerudo emphasized that last word with another energy blast moving ahead of him. "All's fair in love and war!"

"Hnnn!" Pit grunted as the blast struck his back. His teeth clenched together and with a gentle rustling, he hit the ground. Hard. Combined with his lack of oxygen from running, and the pain in his backside, it was hard for him to get up. "Urrnnngghh," he groaned, struggling against his exhausted body.

He was pinned down instantly by the heavy weight of Ganondorf's body, who was now straddling his back. Looking up at his assailant, Pit screamed in terror.

An almost demonic grin was plastered across Ganondorf's face, and his fist glowed with dark magic.

"You..." he hissed, "should have stayed _asleep_."

* * *

Toon Link stretched as he stepped into the hallways outside of his room, feeling the effects of a good rest. Granted, he'd been dreaming about Wolf as far as he could remember, which may or may not have contributed.

At any rate, he felt good.

His first thought was: _coffee_. Funny, how addicted to the drink he'd become. It was even funnier that Wolf himself had been the one to introduce him to it. Toon Link may have only been thirteen years old now, but he felt like an adult when he drank coffee, and he was sure what Wolf wanted was an adult, not a kid. So that's how that was.

Besides, his fourteenth birthday was a mere two weeks away._ Then _he could prove how mature he was!

_Tmp, tmp, tmp, tmp, tmp, tmp_. The younger Link loved the sounds his barefeet made against the hallway floor as he rushed the way of the kitchen, hoping to get at the coffee before Wario took it all. _Again_. Maybe Wolf would be in there too...

"Good goddesses, I am such a creeper," he murmured to himself.

Whistling, he was making headway down the back stairs to the kitchen, hoping to sneak up on the unsuspecting coffee pot. Predator-prey relationship, they called it. Toony reminded himself to stop watching _National Geographic._

"...I should be chasing you! You were sleeping with _my _boyfriend!!"

"I'm afraid you lost your boyfriend when you decided to take a _nap_!"

Those voices...

"Pit and Ganondorf?!" Toon Link asked out loud, even though he wouldn't get an answer. "But in order for Pit and Ganondorf to be arguing... Pit would have to awake... what could you they be fighting about...?"

_...my boyfriend..._

..._my boyfriend..._

_...my boyfriend..._

_"_Oh, no," Toony moaned. For a moment, he wondered why the mansion was echoing him before he realized that Pit was moaning! And it wasn't the good kind! "Hang on, Pit. I'm coming!"

Coffee forgotten for now, Toon Link rushed to his bedroom and grabbed his sword, sheild, bow, boomerang, and his bombs. Retracing his steps, he found himself at the back kitchen doors again. Running towards the scream that ripped through the building like an atomic bomb, he turned the corner just in time...

...to see Ganondorf sitting on Pit's back, his dark fist ready.

"You... should have stayed asleep. I won't have you getting in the way of what I _want_."

"No!" the little Hero cried. Drawing his bowstring taught, he fired one of his arrows as fast as they would allow. Simulators ever absent, rather than simply knocking its target and making his damage climb, it pierced his flesh and made him bleed.

"Agh..." Ganon's fist lost its source of power and died out. The ex-King of Evil rolled off of his victim, holding his arm in cursing pain. "You little welp!"

Groggily, Pit lifted his head to look at his saviour. "Toon Link...?" he asked weakly. "You saved me?!" Pit had never thought much of the boy before, but now, seeing him standing there, crouched down with his bow in hand and animated eyes stony with anger, he looked like a true Hero.

Pit wondered if this was how the people of the Great Sea saw him when they were all resuced. Of course, this was before he blacked out from stress and exhaustion.

"Pit!" Toon Link ran hurriedly to his side and bent over, examining him, thanking Faeroe Pit was just unconscious, hopefully not comatose.

_SQUELCH!!_

The sickening sound filled the thin corridor as Ganondorf slowly pulled Toony's projectile out of his arm with a satisfied grunt, allowing his blood to flow freely into the open.

They whirled to face each other. One could almost imagine the tumbleweed that didn't roll by as they stopped and stared, waiting, just waiting for something to happen.

"What in the name of...?" Link had arrived, and he was glancing from Pit's sleeping form, to Toon Link and Ganondorf's battle of the eyes, and backing again. "What happened here? Why is he asleep on the hall floor?"

"Link!" his younger self cried in relief. "Thank the goddesses you're here!" He planted his feet next to his counterpart, pointing accusingly at the enemy. "_He_," Toon Link stated, "was going to kill Pit!"

"What?" Ganondorf laughed. "Don't be ridiculous, little welp! I wasn't going to _kill _him, per se. I was just going to rough him up a little so he got the picture."

"Woah," Link said angrily, "Don't talk to him like that. He's my closest friend. I don't know why you two have such an animosity with each other. The past is the past, so just forget it." He turned the speech away from Toon Link and headed it full-force on his new boyfriend. "Ganondorf, if you and I are going to work, than you have to get along with Toony! You may not like him, but damn it, you're going to pretend. Because I'm not picking sides! I've done enough of that."

Stalking away, leaving all three of them behind, Link headed for the kitchen. Ganondorf didn't even flinch as Toon Link ran past him to get to his older self.

"Wait a minute! Link! _Wait_!" Just reaching the kitchen door, there was a pause.

"What, Toony? I'm not really in the mood right now..."

"What crawled up your butt?" Pulling out the famous line, Toony's eyes blazed with rage. "Pit's awake, and you're lecturing _Ganondorf _about how you guys are going to work? You should be going back to Pit, not staying with him!"

"Go back to him? How in the hell am I supposed to do that?"

"Oh gee, I dunno... because you were in love with him?!"

"What the fuck are you talking about Toon Link? I can't be in love with someone I've spoken to all of three times!"

Rage immeadiately gone, Toon Link's lips took on that "o" of confusion. "...What?"

Rolling his eyes, Link cried, "Goddesses, Toony! You're acting so weird, just like Marth was today! Why does everyone seem to think I like Pit?"

His question was met with Toon Link's blank stare. "You... you and Pit dated for eight months, Link! _That's _why!"

A slight hint of blue began to creep onto Link's delicate skin. "_PIT AND I NEVER DATED!!" _he screamed. "What is _wrong _with all of you?!"

Destination forgotten, Link trudged back up the stairs. The resounding slam of his dormitory door echoes throughout the halls.

When Ganondorf, Toon Link, and Pit (who cursed himself from having been reawakened for the fourth time in two days), arrived at the kitchen, all of the others were silent as a tomb.

"Pit..." Meta Knight spoke up.

"You're awake!" Peach chimed in happily, clapping her hands together.

The expected flurry of questions came.

"Are you feeling alright?"

"Can I get you some soup?"

"How in the world are you able to walk after all of this time?"

"Yoshi yoshi bilerabileraboooo!"

"WOO-HOO! _I GOT IT_!"

Everyone turned to stare blankly at Mario, who was clutching thin air with his fist raised and a triumphant smirk. When he noticed a room full of none-too-pleased eyes trailing on him, he slowly lowered his hand and stared into his Eggs Benedict.

"What? I was-a talking! It was-a very rude of you to-a interuppt!"

Ignoring him again, they returned to Pit and his miraculous ability to walk.

"Uhm, thank you everybody," Pit said, nervously. "But I can assure you, I'm fine. I think Palutena was watching over me!"

His warm smile seemed to make all of the worry in the room melt away, save of course, for Ganondorf, who's smoldering glare was ever focused on the upstart angel. Suddenly very dizzy, Pit plopped into the nearest chair, between Luigi and Pikachu. Even sitting down, he could feel his legs wobbling.

"Welcome back, Pit," Luigi said calmly, chewing on green mushroom of some type. "It's good to see you at this table again."

"Thank you, Luigi." Pit's stomach rumbled suddenly, and he remembered he'd been eating nothing but pure nutrients ground into a toothpaste-like substance.

Even Kirby was in shock as he watched Pit basically vacuum up the entire table of solid food like he'd never eating a thing in his life. The room was like a big mess of forks, spoons, knives, napkins and Pokemon flying about in various direction as Pit dashed about, grabbing random items of food and shoving them into his mouth.

After about forty seconds of feeding insanity, Pit sat down, fully satiated, and rubbing his belly gingerly. "Okay, I am so _full_."

Certainly he was full. The only articles of food that managed to survive the massive attack were two strips of bacon, a Super Mushroom, and several assorted hard-boiled eggs in assorted colours.

Thankfully, the other Smashers' plates had remained untouched by the angel's assault, and they dug in almost fearfully, in case Pit decided he was hungry again.

"So," Captain Falcon whispered over to Pit from the other side of Pikachu. "I heard that-- oh crap, hang on, I can't talk like this."

Pikachu promptly screamed in terror as he was lifted above Captain Falcon's head, wriggling furiously. "Pika pika pikachu _pi_!"

Answering his demands, the former bounty hounter slammed the mouse Pokemon into his old seat, much to the frustration of Gandrayda.

"Anyway," Douglas continued as if he hadn't just seat-napped an innocent Pikachu, "Link supposedly got with Ganondorf."

No longer filled with that content feeling that came from a full stomach, Pit simply stared at the floor, with his eyes narrowed. "I know. Ganondorf--"

"--attacked him in the hallway!" Toon Link was blabbing to Wolf and Zelda. The princess's eyes were wide with interest. "He was about to punch his lights out, but I got him with an arrow just in time!" The boy made the motion of shooting an arrow from the Hero's Bow with his arms.

"Wow," Zelda gasped, "So he _is _still up to no good. What a bastard!"

The news of Ganondorf's attack on Pit spread across quickly, and before long, not even Bowser would talk to the Gerudo, and he sat by himself at the end of the table, eating all by himself.

_How dare they? _Ganondorf thought to himself, rage boiling up inside of him again. _Stupid winged rat had it coming to him. He shouldn't left Link alone. The Hero of Twilight has what I want, and Pit is in the way, I'm going to get it, no matter how much blood I have to spill._

Leaving the rest of his food behind, Ganondorf stood up and left the room.

Wolf watched him go with little interest, his left ear only half-listening to the little Link ramble on about who-knows-what. He had more important things to worry about then what was going on between Ganondorf/Link/Pit. He had his own little damn triangle he had to work with.

Fox was straight across the table from him, not looking up at anybody as he ate. Similarly, Falco was staring into his food exactly two seats away from him. From above, it would have looked like a triangle. Wolf hadn't had the oppurtunity to talk to Fox since they had kissed at the fountain.

"I'll get him after breakfast..." he muttered.

"What?" asked Toon Link, looking irritated his story had been interuppted.

"Nothing."

Out of nowhere, his chair scraped against the tiled floor as he stood up and gave his companions a non-chalant wave. "Gotta go somewhere. Don't wait up for me." And he stalked off.

Zelda just shrugged and urged Toon Link to continue with his conspiracy theory. He always seemed to be coming up with one of those.

Wolf didn't go far, just around the other side of the doorway, where he was hidden in the shadows and no one could see him.

Including Fox McCloud.

* * *

_Dear Smashers,_

_ It had been brought to my attention that the angel Pit has been reawakened from the coma that was the result of the events that occured last year. Pit has been worked into the schedule of the tournament and will battle in the near future._

_Tomorrow, a match between:_

_Toon Link vs. Ganondorf_

_will take place at the Brawl dome at 5:00pm. Will these two smashers please be certain that they are in attendance._

_Thank you_

_Master and CrAZZeeeeEee_


	10. Two Conspiracies

**Crystal Nothings II: My Wings Angle Down - The Fallen Lithium**

**Disclaimer: Nintendo, Sega, and Konami own Smash Bros. Brawl!  
**

* * *

_"_I _knew _it!" Toon Link cried.

"You knew what?" Popo asked absently as he fiddled with a string on his parka.

"Ganondorf! He totally has some whack-job evil plan!"

"Mmmm," the Ice Climber replied, not entirely listening as he flipped through the Tv channels with the remote, stopping to watch _Hollywood Squares_.

"You're not even entirely listening to me are you, Popo?"

"Not really."

"Don't you get it?! Day one: Link and Ganondorf start dating. Day two: Pit wakes up from a coma. Day three: Ganondorf tries to kill him! Isn't there a correlation between those three things?"

"Toony, you are _completely _overreacting." Coolness flowed through Popo's tone as he spoke. "Ganondorf did not try to _kill _him. And besides, I don't think this little conspiracy of your's exists. In my opinion it was just a jealously thing. Case closed."

Pouting slightly, the blond crossed his arms defiantly. "Fine, but I'm going to figure it out. And I'll write I TOLD YOU SO in big letters on your bedroom mirror with Peach's lipstick."

"... What colour?"

Toon Link smirked evilly. "Very berry blue."

"_No_! Dear God, Toony, you are _crazy_!" With that, the hooded boy rushed off to cover his mirror in plastic wrap, cursing to himself the whole way.

Satisfaction filled him as he took over the television. As he pressed buttons to scroll through the channels, his mind wasn't really on _Winx Club_, _Teen Titans_, or the _MMVA's '08_. The smaller wielder of the Master Sword knew he had a match against the villian -- yes, he was for sure a villain -- coming up, and the boy figured that was the perfect place to expose his treachery for what it was.

Except... he wasn't sure _how _yet.

Ganondorf was not to be trusted.

Leaving the tube on Lucario's favorite show, _Pokemon News Weekly_, he left the room behind and trudged to the kitchen, hoping to find a light snack to satiate his appetite that he'd lost during the breakfast incident.

Only to find the current object of his hatred poking casually about the fridge. The Gerudo's head popped out of the appliance, shutting the door with his rear end, he messily piled lettuce, Cucco, mayonaise, Ordon goat cheese, ranch dressing, and Luigi's tortilla wraps onto the counter. Freezing for a moment open seeing his foe, he simply shrugged and set about preparing his meal.

Not saying a word, Toon Link simply got the bag of pretzels from the shelf above the microwave (with the help of a stool), used said stool to sit down behind the 'island' table and crunched away on his snack, while watching the other carefully.

Ganondorf cranked the oven up to maximum heat, and poured some type of greasy substance onto the pan. Oil, the fourteen year-old supposed. Taking several thin strips of the Cucco, he placed them onto the fryer and smiled as they made sickening sizzles against the heat and the oil. Whistling a jaunty tune and occasionally glancing at his bandaged arm, Ganondorf stood patiently and waited for the poultry to cook. Still, neither spoke.

Was he planning on _cooking _Link?

Ridiculous, obviously.

There had to be _something _sinister going on in his brain. Toon Link was sure of it. He had been the King of Evil after all, had he not? Whatever his plan was, the blond knew he wasn't going to figure it out by watching him cook, so he broke the silence.

"_Ahem_."

The Gerudo looked up from his culinary delights with a raised eyebrow and a bemused smirk. "So?"

_Damn, I was gonna say that!_

_"Uh... _so?!" Toon Link shot back lamely.

No response.

Deciding to add more to the conversation, the boy continued. "Um... whatcha' makin' there?"

"Cucco wraps. Thin strips of fully cooked cucco wrapped in a tortilla shell with mayonaise, ordon goat cheese, and ranch dressing," Ganondorf pointed to each ingredient as he spoke, as if hosting a cooking show. "You want one?"

Taken aback that he'd been offered at all, Toon Link just shook his head. "No, thanks. I don't like eating _poisoned _food." Oh yeah, repel that one.

"What are you talking about?" _Damn, he's good_.

"Well, it's clear that if you're offering to make me something, you poisoned it somehow so I would die so you can steal the Triforce of Courage!"

The accusation stung the unsuspecting Gerudo like a whole herd of weevers in the deserts.

"Why in the hell would you think something so outrageous?"

"I'll tell you why," Toon Link offered, now standing on his stool and pointing an accusatory finger. "You've been shacking up with Link! And to top off the whole cake you attacked Pit today, who was his boyfriend! Why do you want Link so badly?! What's your game?"

Much to his surprise and irritation, the chef suddenly cracked a small smile, which turned into a grin, which turned into a smirk, and then chuckles, then full-blown knee-slapping laughter. "AhaHA! _That's _what this is all about? You think I have some evil plan because I want to be with Link? Absurd!"

"Why else would you?!"

"Look, kid. I want to be with Link because I'm attracted to him, and I may or may not have fallen for him, okay?" Ganondorf asked, sounding sincere enough. "And I attacked Pit out of pure jealously. Nothing else. Thanks to him, my relationship is probably over before it even started..."

"That's what Lucas said..."

"Lucas is a smart kid,"

"I am!" came the Lucas in question. Waving slightly at the duo, he grabbed a pop from the refridgerator and strolled back to the living without a backwards glance.

"Toon Link... you couldn't possibly understand what its like to want something that is _so _close... you have it in your grasp... and then its taken from you. I've had that happen far too many times, whether the reasons were right or wrong."

Picking up his completed Cucco wraps, he stood and gave the boy a brief nod. "And I will fight for Link, whatever it takes. If you don't like it, that's just too bad. Your opinion is largely insignificant to me."

With that in mind, the ex-King of Evil left, munching on the roll he had made.

"Oh my _goddesses_! This thing is almost _orgasmic_!"

Even though he was pissed off at him, Toon Link couldn't help but giggle at his affection for the food.

He also couldn't help but frown at his 'affection' for Link. Could what he said be true? Lucas had informed him as much... maybe he was just overreacting. It's not like it was unreasonable for him to be a little paranoid. This is _Ganondorf _we're talking about. It was only natural for the Hero of Winds to grow a tad nervous about his intentions.

But... maybe it was time to let it go.

Pulling the Wind Waker out of his pocket, he began to wave the baton around what would look like a random series of directions to the musically untrained eye. Loud, operatic notes filled the room, stringing out a calm, hushing melody.

"Yeah, Ganondorf. I do understand what that's like. More than you know."

* * *

Dedede.

Sheik.

Mario and Peach.

R.O.B... what was he doing in the dining room? Does he eat?

Captain Falcon and the purple woman... Candace, was it?

Yoshi.

Damn it, where was Fox? He'd been sitting in the shadow of the doorway for about fifteen minutes. Just as he'd suspected, no one even cast him a second glance. Wolf was blanketed amongst the darkness. No one would see him unless _he _wanted them too.

_Tck-a, tck-a, tck-a, tck-a, tck-a_.

Those sounds. Those were without a doubt team Star Fox standard issue combat boots. Wolf could recognize the noises they made from a mile away if he needed to.

Fox was coming.

Crouching down low to the ground in an almost feral stance, still covered in black, Wolf waited.

A gray tck-a boot came into view, and Wolf struck down--

Falco?!

"Falco?!" Wolf cried. Wolf had put all of his weight (which was only 4 body fat) into his tackle, and all of that muscle was currently crushing Falco's trachea.

"Argh... Wolf...getoffame... _gasp_, I need _air, _dammit!"

"Sorry," he apologized in a mumble. Wolf tried to pull himself off of the feathered body, but he couldn't. Looking down, the entangled duo discovered that their legs had _somehow _managed to interwine with each other.

"Any idea how the hell this happened?" Falco asked.

"Not a clue."

"I don't either."

Both of them stopped dead in their efforts to free themselves at the menacing sound of the third voice. Lupine and avian looked up to see a very, _very _upset vulpine staring down at them, his delicate features laced with disgust for the both of them.

"Aw, don't you two look _fucking _adorable," Fox said, each word laced with sarcasm. "Great. Wolf, Falco, I wanted to talk to the both of you about this whole mess, but I can see that you're more interested in each other than you are me. So I'll leave you be!"

Taking care to step on both of their arms as he walked past, Fox grinned at their screeches of pain. As he began to disappear into the darkness of the hall, Wolf called helplessly. "Fox, wait!! This isn't--"

"--what it looks like?" Fox finished for him. "Save it, Wolf. I'm going to bed."

Wolf glared down at the blue man below him. "Way to go, _Falco_. If you had let Fox walk in front of you, I would've tackled _him _and we wouldn't be in this mess!"

"Me?!" Falco replied indignantly. "If you hadn't been _hiding _in the doorway attempting to tackle anyone, there wouldn't even _be_ a mess to _be_ in!"

"Shut it. For now, let's just focus on getting ourselves untangled."

It was a chore, but eventually the two pilots were standing again, brushing excess dirt and grime from their uniforms. An awakward silence came between them as they stood there, looking around everywhere their eyes could see except for each other.

"Wolf... why did you do it?" Falco asked out of nowhere, still not looking at the person he'd directed the question to.

In a similar manner, Wolf responed coolly, "You dumped him, or he dumped you, I don't really know what happened. The only thing I know for certain is that... he was single when I did it."

"..."

"Falco, what did actually happen between you. You guys seemed so picturesque."

"Fox dumped me, Wolf. He tried to come back to me after kissing you, but I rejected him."

"But why?" Wolf asked curiously, "You like him, don't you?"

"No, I don't. I... I love him, Wolf." Falco said with an edge of ice in his voice. "Even still, I can't let him walk all over me."

Wolf's ears drooped ever-so-slightly as he finally gathered the courage to look Falco directly in the eye. He looked so... sad. Heartbroken. It wasn't right. It just wasn't--

"_Mmmmaffmmm_!" Wolf cried in a panicky matter as Falco's beak was pressed roughly against his lips. A slight grunt escaped him as Falco shoved him against the wall, still ravaging his muzzle with that damn beak.

"Unhg!" Using his superior strength, he managed to push Falco off of him, though he had to catch his breath from the combo of exerted force and lack of oxygen from making out. "Falco?!" he shouted for the second time in ten minutes. "What the _shit_, do you think you were doing?"

"Come on, Wolf. Don't pretend you didn't like it!" a smirking Falco chided him playfully.

Wolf was glad he had fur, so Falco couldn't see him go redder than a potato... what, are potatoes red? He'd have to look into that later...

"Answer me, bird. _Why _did you do that?"

"Revenge lay," Falco stated, simple as though they were discussing apples and oranges.

"Ex-_cuse _me?"

"Come _on _Wolf! Think about it!" the avian shouted, excitement in his voice. "It's the best way for both of us to get back at Fox! He's tossed us both aside like we're nothing! You and I don't have to take that!" Wolf gasped in surprise as Falco fisted his shirt and yanked him so close that were breathing down each other's necks. "You and me. We fuck. Fox will know about it in no time. He'll see how good you and I are, and he'll be begging for one of us, whoever that may be, to take him back."

"Oh yeah? That's your master plan? What if the one he 'begs to take him back' isn't you? What do you get out of this?"

"A couple of good fucks. What else?"

"Falco... Saying this as someone who was the leader of Star Wolf... That was one of the most horrible ideas I have ever heard of. Isn't there another way you can get Fox back that _doesn't _involve being a slut and betraying other people's trust?"

"Not that instantly spring to mind," Falco replied with a shrug.

With a sigh, O'Donnell clamped a paw and Lombardi's shoulder and pushed him down to the hallway carpet. Sitting down next to him, he spoke. "Falco, you can be such an idiot... How badly do you want Fox back?"

Tears welled up in the avian's eyes and he smacked the back of his head against the wall and stared at the ceiling. "More than I've ever wanted anything in the world."

"Exactly. Do you really think that fucking me is going to get him back?" Wolf asked matter-of-factly.

Falco took big, deep breaths that visibly shook his body. "N-no, it won't. I'm sorry Wolf. I just... so... I just got so jealous."

"Listen to me, Lombardi. If you want Fox back, you have to march up those stairs, go into his room and apologize for whatever you said or did, and tell him how much you love him. If that doesn't work, than I promise you that nothing else in the world will. Got it?"

Smiling and wiping his eyes, Falco nodded. "Yeah."

"And Falco... if you don't get him back... I will be the one to destroy you. Got _that_?" Wolf asked with a smirk.

The avian chuckled and held his hand out for a shake. "Deal." Wolf took the shake, and smiled sadly as he watched his new friend jump up and rush towards Fox's room with renewed vigor and confidence.

"That was really amazing of you, Wolf."

"Thanks, Peach." Wolf answered gruffly.

The Mushroom princess just grinned and twirled her parasol innocently. "I know how much you liked Fox."

With another sigh, Wolf looked back in the direction that Falco had gone. "Yes, well... Falco needs him more than I do."

* * *

"A-hello!!" the italian plumber's voice screamed over the intercom, using horrendously outdated slang. "Waazup-a bitchizzz-a! All of-a dey Smasherz be needin' to-a meet in-a the front of the crib-a. Word-a Cheez Whiz-ey-a--!"

"Mario, quit acting acting like such an idiot." The much calmer voice of his brother could be heard in the background. After the sounds of a brief scuffle, (which involved Mario shouting, "PRIVATE RYAN-a DOWN!!" at the top of his lungs) Luigi took over the microphone and delivered a much clearer message.

"Hello Smashers. Sorry about that. In case my brother's horrendously outdated slang confused you, everyone needs to meet outside in the front of the house within half-an-hour, at exactly 2:47pm. There is an extremely important message that will be read to all of you then. Thank you. Luigi out."

* * *

**A/N: I was going to add a bit more, but I figured it would be best to stop there. Review, please?**


	11. They're Both Gone

**Crystal Nothings II: My Wings Angle Down - The Fallen Lithium**

**Disclaimer: Nintendo, Sega, and Konami own Smash Bros. Brawl!  
**

* * *

Falco heard the announcement as he rushed about, and he checked his watch. 2:18pm. He had precisely twenty-nine minutes to convince Fox to take him back and then run to the front for the big, scary announcement. The avian tackled each corridor with finesse and unmatched precision. He'd been to Fox's room so many times that it came as naturally to him as breathing. While he ran, he thought about Wolf.

Wolf... Wolf was sexy. He wasn't going to lie to himself. Falco knew he would _totally _do the lupine, which was probably why he'd been so eager to use him as a revenge lay. Maybe if he and Fox got back together, they could...

Oh, God no. Fox would never go for that.

_Focus, Falco. Focus, dammit!_

It had been so... uncharacteristic of Wolf to give up that easily. Wolf usually refused to go down without a fight. But the former Star Wolfer had done the right thing for him, and he was glad for that. O'Donnell could be great when he wanted to be.

Unusually enough, Fox's door was open, if only slightly. Placing his wing on the wood, he pushed it open and flinched at the tiny _creak! _it made as it swung forward.

Falco was horrified at what he saw. No, no, while Fox certainly wasn't killing himself or having sex with someone, he was doing something much, much worse.

He was packing.

Two large suitcases sat on his bed and various uniforms, magazines, and stickers were being thrown in carelessly. He acknowledged his ex-boyfriend's presence with an almost unnoticeable nod of the head without looking from his task.

"...Fox...?" Falco tried tentatively.

"Hey, Falcster... I haven't called you that in a long time, have I?" the vulpine replied, his brain currently in idle mode.

"What... are you doing here?"

"What does it look I'm doing?" Fox snapped. "I'm packing," he added, answering his own rhetorical quesiton. "I'm leaving the tournament. And I'm also disbanding Star Fox when I get back to Corneria."

Disbanding the team?

"No..." Falco uttered in shock. "For what fathomable reason could you possibly have for doing this kind of thing, especially without warning? What about Slippy, Peppy, Krystal... me?"

"You guys'll manage fine without me. You managed to do it before, I'm certain you can pull of a coup again."

"But why, though?" Falco was desperate for answers. This was so sudden, and so _outrageous_, and he had no idea what could be done about it.

In a very cliche'ed manner, Fox pulled on a dark trenchcoat, a top-hat of sorts, and picked both of his suitcases with one hand. He walked up to Falco and clamped the other one down on his shoulder.

"Falco. Please don't blame yourself for any of this. It's all my fault. I shouldn't have pushed you to commit to me, and I shouldn't have done what I did with Wolf. Shouldn't, shouldn't, shouldn't." Falco opened his mouth to interject, but Fox held up a paw to silence him quickly. "I let our personal feelings get in the way. I don't want to to do that you anymore Falco. I don't want you to regret me." Leaving it alone at that, he started for the hall.

"Fox, no! Wait a minute. You don't get it! None of that matters to me, because I came up here to tell you that I'm sorry and that I l--"

"Goodbye, Falco." One lone, significant tear was freed from the cluthces of his blue orb and trailed off of his muzzle and on to the carpet. Without another word, he was gone.

Almost in a daze, Falco stepped into the hallway after him, but Fox had used his speed to his advantage and was long gone. The only trace that indicated he was ever there at all was the tear stain in the carpet. Uncaring of how ridiculous he looked, he knelt down onto the floor, and gently licked the spot where the tear had soaked into the fibres.

"You're such a drama queen..."

After a while, the depressed bird checked his watch again. 2:40. Time to head down to the front yard to see what all of the fuss was about.

The only question was: Did Falco even care anymore?

* * *

At 2:47 pm, the front yard was abuzz with chatter. Luigi stood in front of the congregation of fighters, a very important- looking document in his gloved hands.

"...and that's why I don't drink apple juice anymore..."

"...she was like, "POW!" And he was all, "OW!"

"...I don't think we're allowed to say that word here..."

"..."

"...puyo puia pai?"

"...don't _touch _that! Do you want to get a disease?"

Link and Ganondorf joined the group, hands held tightly together. The Hero was blushing slightly, afraid of scrutiny. But the only person who even cast him more than a two-second glance was his younger self, who provided him with the dirtiest glare he could muster from his little, cat-like eyes.

Ike was the only silent one there, staring down at his toes, finding his boots very interesting. Were they always that odd blue colour? Truth be told, he was only trying to hide his humiliation from the incident that involved Link catching him in the library with that book. Ike was not going gay, certainly not. But he knew he couldn't possibly live here with all of these people and not be tolerant of the ways of the homosexual. His invitation should've had a notice at the bottom that reads: "WARNING. CONTAINS LOTS OF GAYS." To that effect, he decided to do some research to help build his tolerance of this foreign idea that he'd found sick and wrong.

Unbelievably, the book had taught him a great many things he didn't know. One, it wasn't a _choice_. Two, homosexuals were actually interested in dating and healthy relationships, not just sex (although, just as with straight people, there are some that are all about sexual encounters). Three, this particular fact of which was most important to him: there is absolutely _no _correlation between the amount of rape cases and the sexuality of the rapists.

So there Ike had it. He'd been a total jack-ass to all of these people for no good reason. The warrior's very soul was being tormented by the tempest of guilt. Somehow, he got the sense that apologies weren't going to be enough in this situation. But certainly, there had to be _some _way to prove how sorry he was for his actions...

"Alright, now that everyone is here. I'd like to get on with our special announcement!" Luigi said proudly. "We got this letter from Master, and it reads _Imperative_ on the front, so I assume that means its pretty damn _important_!" The plumber began to laugh uproariously, slapping his knees at his own joke.

The rest of the Smashers were silent as a tomb. Even the crickets did not make a sound.

"Erg..." Luigi groaned nervously, pulling on the collar of his green shirt. "Well, then... ahem. Moving on. I don't know what the letter says, so I'll be getting the news at the same time as the rest of you. Okay, here we go."

The lean, mean, green machine (as Sonic had once called him) purposely took his precious time slicing upon the folds of the envelope with a red and white letter opener. Grunts and mutters of irrititation began to spread throughout his audience, clearly disinterested in his display of dramatic tension. Finally, after some 3 minutes of tearing, the letter was freed, and Luigi read it for all to hear.

_Dear Smashers_,

_It has come to our attention that tensions within the building have run quite high as of late. As a result of your misconceptions with each other, we have opted to give you a night away from the mansion, into a city we have aptly named, 'Smashville.' In Smashville you will find shops, entertainment centres, recreational facilities, anything that will suit your desires. The portals are set to take you to to Smashwille at 3:00 pm. The portals will return to the Mansion at precisely 12:01am. Any Smasher who is not present at that time will be left behind until another transport is arranged._

_Please enjoy yourself,_

_Master and KraZyE_

_P.S. To activate your transport, stand inside of it and say 'SMASHVILLE' loudly and clearly, and it will take you where you want to to go._

"Ooooohhh!" Peach squealed excitedly. "Shops! I simply _adore _shopping!"

"You're stereotypical female behaviour is an inspiration to women everywhere." Fellow Princess, the young Zelda made sure each word of her faux praise was dripping with the uptomst sarcasm.

"Oh, lighten up, silly pirate-boy!" Peach exclaimed again, discreetly peppering in a joyful insult.

"..._What_ did you just call me?! Am I not wearing a dress, you narcissistic gossip?"

"The dress proves nothing!" the older princess stated, still grinning like an idiot.

The shouting match between the two girls was largely ignored by the rest of the group, save for Wario, who has repeatedly shouting, "Take your clothes off!" at every opportunity, each time receiving a hard punch in his cranium from the Falcon's purple-skinned girlfriend and steely glares from the fighters.

At exactly 3:00pm, as promised, everyone fell silent and stared in awe as a massive transportation field appeared before them. Every single Smasher found it breathtaking to stare at. It was a swirling mass of greens, blues, reds, and fiery oranges. The colours seemed to playfully chase each other while twirling about. Blue nipped red joyously in the red, and green danced in the sky with orange. It was hearbreaking, uplifting, and melachony all at the same time.

"Excuse me," a voice called breaking the delicate wonder of observation. All of the group turned to see the trench-coated Fox, who was still staring into the portal. "Can this thing take me to Corneria?"

Luigi looked slightly flustred, looking back and forth from the Smasher to the exit ramp in confusion. "Um, I suppose so, but... why do you need to go to Corneria?"

"Isn't it obvious?!" Fox asked. "I've got suitcases. Why do _you _think I need to go to Corneria?"

Five seconds ticked away on the imaginary clock of brainpower, and Link was the first one to fully register what was happening. "Fox... you're not... you aren't leaving are you?"

Pit stared at the grass as he listened to Link's questioning vocals. Without even needing to look at him, the angel knew how beautiful his ex-lover was. His voice carried with a bittersweet sense of naivete, child-like magic, and fiery love. It still enthralled the brunette, even though, deep down, he knew that fiery love was meant to be his anymore.

But... it could be? Couldn't it? There had to be some way...

He snapped back to reality about halfway into the exchange between the Hero and the pilot.

"...and I can't take the drama and insanity anymore. I have to go home."

"But, Fox. There's a whole mess of people here that really care about you. And I'm sure Falco--"

"Don't even say his name... It's... please, God, Link... It's just too much."

Before anyone else could speak up, Fox rushed to the portal hurriedly, and stood inside. "Take me home, dammit."

Nothing happened.

"Don't you hear me, you stupid portal?! I want. To go. _Home_. _Now_!"

"Err," Luigi tried quietly. "You have to say the name of where you want to go--" Just as the younger Mario brother was finishing his explanation, the front doors swung open with a crash, and an avian who was dripping with sweat was barrelling towards them, full speed ahead.

"Fox, please don't go. We can still..." Falco cut himself off as he dove through the air in a futile attempt to stop the man he loved from leaving him for good.

"CORNERIA!" McCloud shouted angrily, and in a flash, the vulpine was gone, leaving the swirling colours behind. As the finality of his facial features disappeared, Falco swiped out and was greeted with the cold Earth inside the useless portal.

Falco didn't bother to blink back the tears that sprung to his eyes while he stared at his feathered fist that clenched nothing. Just blank, thin air.

The Smashers stood staring in shock and mute anger as the portal followed in the way of Fox McCloud and was suddenly lost without a trace.

"What the hell?" Wolf cried.

"I was looking forward to this night out!" Marth said sadly.

"Yoshi yoshi yoshi!"

R.O.B. stepped... er, wheeled forward and immeadiately set his scanners on the area where the force field had been.

"Analysis complete," R.O.B. confirmed in his melachonic, emotionless voice. "This particular portal was only designed to make one trip. Subject Fox McCloud used this portal to return to his homeworld of Corneria, thus limiting the portal's abilities. Another transport can only be arranged by Master or Crazy. The Smashers are not going anywhere this evening."

A collective groan of resignation spread throughout the group. Muttering bitterly, each figher began to make his or her way in seperate directions towards various places in the mansion.

Falco didn't move from the spot where he lay in the dirt.

His hand wasn't empty.

There was something there. Gold glinted in the afternoon light from the chain that dangled from the spaces in his clenched hand. Slowly, as if afraid he were going to destroy the thing, Falco opened his hand fully and let the object drop into the grass.

Oh shit.

It was that damn locket that Fox had given him the first time they... did that... thing that lover's like to do.

Anyway, Fox and Falco had just finished... that... for the first time in their relationship.

_"I wanted to give you this, but I was kind of caught up, I guess," Fox had said at the time with a small blush._

_Falco scoffed, albeit somewhat happily. "Oh, damn, Fox. I didn't get you anything, I'd feel bad accepting this."_

_McCloud just grinned. "Oh, believe me. You gave me something all right. Now open the freakin' box."_

_With a sigh, his lover had obeyed, and nearly choked on his own surprise saliva._

_The locket in the box had a picture of the happy couple, sharing their second kiss. _

_"Why our second kiss?" Falco asked, slight bemused._

_"Well, our first kiss was a little private, to say the least. And Kirby had that damn camera on him for this one. So I guess you could say it is our first public kiss. Do you like it?"_

_"Are you fucking kidding me, Fox?" Falco cried, slipping the chain around his neck and throwing his arms around his furry lover. "The only thing I love more than the locket is the person I'm with in it."_

Staring at his gift now, that day felt like so long ago. Ages, centuries, milleniums, whatever they were called.

Even though that moment had been captured in the jewelery forever, Falco felt like it had been lost anyway. How was he going to get Fox back, and never let him go again?

* * *

Pit was trailing behind the new couple like a private detective trails his case victims. Strategically, he kept behind Marth and Toon Link, who just happened to be staring at his older self with a look of immense dislike, all the while giving Marth the occasional 'yeah,' to whatever ridiculous statement or observation the prince happened to be making.

Why was his ex-lover treating him this way? He acted as though he had no memory of their relationship. The kissing, the cuddling, the drinking, the late-night movies, the sex... oh, Palutena's Wings, the _sex_. The bracelet.

Pit suddenly screeched to a halt, receiving shouts of inconvience from Mewtwo and Sonic, who happened to be walking behind him. Paying them no mind, he glanced down at his wrist. He couldn't fathom that he didn't notice it before.

The bracelet was _gone_.

Other people slowly trickled around him like he was a rock in a river as his mind reeled over this new discovery.

_No. No. No. No. No. No. This is not happening. This cannot be happening. My bracelet. Goddess Palutena where could it possibly be?_

Samus and Zelda had died a while ago, but Pit was still two hundred percent certain he'd been wearing the damn thing when he'd assited in the defeat of the bounty hunter's dark doppleganger. So where could it possibly have gone?

_The infirmary, Pit. You damn dolt._

Turning around and rushing through the flow of people headed in the oppostie direction, he headed for the hospital bed that had been his home for the past little while.

Bursting thorugh the door, Pit made way towards his old bed, which he could recognize instantly as Dr. Mario hadn't re-fitted the sheets as of yet... wherever the psychopath was.

_Okay_, Pit told himself. _Calm down. Check the drawers, maybe they put it in there for safe-keeping when they brought you in._

Yanking open both drawers in panicky desperation, he was only greeted with empty, three dimensional wooden boxes with fancy iron handles on them.

Slowly, and deliberately, the angel sank to the floor in a stupor. How does one _lose _something that was so damn important.

Pit could feel the frustrated tears coming, so he placed a hand on the tiled for to steady himself.

The tears came in the form of shock and physical pain. Lifting his newly-injured hand, he found that a shard of _glass _was stuck into it. Blood dribbled slowly down the length of his pale arms and collected in a sickening kind of pool at the joint of his lower and upper arm. It dripped onto the floor as it slid from the crook in his limb and off of the bottom of his elbow.

Pit noted that the piece of whatever-it-was glowed dully, even though the curtains in the room were tightly drawn and the floruscent lights were currently turned off. How odd. Using the fingers of his other hand, he wiped the blood off with a grimace at the life-giving toxin's texture and copper-like scent.

At the moment that his left ring finger scraped away the last of the red life, he studied the shard more closely, just barely being able to make out the letter R.

"Oh, no..." Pit moaned aloud as it quickly came to him. This shard... it was a piece of his love, it was a piece of the Crystal Nothings. It had been destroyed.

The frustrated tears took their turn on being freed from Pit's stinging eyes. Crying quietly, he turned the shard every which way possibly in his fingers, watching the eerie light that came off of it.

Wait a minute. If this was a shard of the Crystal Nothings, the other shards have to be in here somewhere!

More cuts made their schedules open for time in pits hands and legs as got down on them and look underneath his old bed. He didn't make yelps or shouts of pain available to them, and they only seemed to bleed harder because of it. Still, the angel's undivided attention was focused on the floor underneath the bed, because surely enough, several more shards emanating a soft, gentle light could be seen.

After an arduous task of collecting all of the pieces and bandaging his open wounds, fearing infection, Pit began to try and piece them together, hoping ot recreate his love. But it was as fruitless as it was arduous. Concentrating hard, he managed to create a vague representation of the words TOGETHER FOREVER, but his makeshift bracelet fell apart each time he did so mucha s breath on it.

"It's no use," Pit said sadly, making a strange, upset noise from his throat. "It's gone..." The only evidence he had of his time with Link that they spent in love was gone. Now what was he supposed to do?

An even better question was, how in the world did the Crystal Nothings shatter like that? They were supposed to be invincible. Worse off, he couldn't ask Zelda because she had passed on. He was fairly certain that the younger Zelda and Toon Link wouldn't really know much about life proposals. And he was in zero of a position to talk to Ganondorf. So there was only one person he could ask.

That person was Link.

* * *

"They what?" Link asked incredulously.

"Shattered!" Pit repeated in exasperation. "Destroyed! Kaput! Broken!"

"Oh, wow..." the mind-wiped Hero breathed. "Pit, if they're destroyed, then there is something you should know."

The angel was silent, waiting on the explanation he knew only Link could give.

"The Crystal Nothings are resistant to any form of physical damage. Hyrule's greatest acheivement in love. You chould throw those damn things off of Death Mountain, and they wouldn't have a scratch on them when they reached the bottom."

Pit nodded, not knowing what Death Mountain was, though he had to assume it was a mountain of great stature, just by using common sense.

"Anyway. There is only one thing. One thing in all of existence that can end them."

Link had grown silent and thoughtful, staring up through the mansion's room and into space, and the stars twinkled in his eyes.

"What is it?! Tell me!" Pit grabbed Link by the shoulders and shook him vigorously, abruptly awakening him from his trance.

"S-sorry," he stammered. "Anyway...

... the only thing that will destroy the Crystal Nothings is if the bond between the two who shared them is broken. If this occurs, the Crystal Nothings will shatter and slowly begin to lose their heavenly glow." The stars were in his eyes again as he continued. "By the time that glow dies, they say it will be impossible to rebuild the love that grew around them."

"So what you're telling me is..." Pit began, though he was unsure of how to proceed. "Oh, okay. So let's say that you and I are dating, hypothetically of course." Link nodded in agreement. Pit moved on. "Let's say I give you... let's say, hypothetically, of course... a bracelet of Crystal Nothings that symbolizes our love and means we will be together forever. Now, let's say, still hypothetically of course, that you fell in love with someone else. The bracelet shatters. Am I right?"

"Well... yes and no," Link replied with a frown. "They shatter if the one of us makes contact with another person that they were in love with. So, putting it ironically, in order to destroy the bracelet, one of us would have to commit and infedility. So, for example, saying that I kissed Ganondorf. That would be considered enough of a violation of the Crystal Nothings to validate them not being needed anymore."

Pit opened his mouth to add something, but Link held up a hand and silenced him. "Oh, and one other thing, too. They say," he added cryptically, "that when the Crystal Nothings are destroyed, the person who committed the adultery has no memory of their love with the person they shared the jewels with. Isn't that _romantic_?" he asked at the end, getting starry-eyed for the third time.

"That... that's sick!" Pit cried in anger. "Why does some magical bracelet have to interfere with a relationship? What if one of them wanted to make it work out?! They can't if the other person doesn't remember!"

Link chuckled at the angel's modest rage. "Well, you know what they say. Great power comes with great responsibility. Crystal Nothings are the highest form of affection in Hyrule. It's not like a ring, if you give someone the Nothings, you better be prepared to back them up for the rest of your life or pay the price of someone's memory." Thoughtful, Link twiddle his thumbs. "It makes you think though. Wouldn't it suck to lose your memory of something so special?"

Pit shrugged, "Yeah, yeah I guess it would." Now utterly depressed, he turned to leave and with a little wave, said, "Thanks for your help, Link. See you around."

"Pit, wait!" The retreating angel stopped and turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow. "Why did you want to know about the Crystal Nothings?"

No point in lying, Pit knew. After all, he doesn't remember anyway. "... Mine... mine are gone. Destroyed. The person I love with all of my heart abandoned me while I was in that goddamn _coma_," he spat the last word out, filled with venom and malice.

Link's features melted into sympathetic ones. "Oh, goddesses, Pit. I'm so sorry, that's truly terrible."

"It is," Pit agreed.

"Who... may I ask who you gave them to? I might know them, after all it would have be someone from Hyrule right?"

"You're right, Link. It was someone from Hyrule," the angel was swooping in for the play of his trump card. "It was a man. And his name was Link."

With that, he turned on his heel and stomped away, not even looking back and smirking a little when Link shouted, "Oh my goddesses, you gave _Crystal Nothings _to Toony?!"


	12. TDT

**Crystal Nothings II: My Wings Angle Down - Fallen Lithium**

**Disclaimer: I own the character introduced in this chapter!  
**

* * *

_Dear Master and Crazy,_

_I need another transport set up as quickly as possible. Fox McCloud has abandoned the tournament without an official resignation and I would like to ensure that he properly removes himself from the listings. Please have the transport ready whenever it is available. Thank you._

_Falco Lombardi_

Falco stared at the letter he'd writeen tot he higher-ups. It seemed like a conceivable enough excuse to give him a transport. Somehow, the avian doubted the 'managers' would provide him what he needed just so he could chase his ex-boyfriend across dimensions like a cheesy romantic comedy.

_Fox's favourite kind of movie_, he thought with a sigh.

Pushing his desk chair backwards, Falco cringed slightly at the harsh scraping sound the legs made across the plush blue carpeting. As he walked down the hallways to the postal centre he stuffed the message into a small red envelope and sealed it tightly with...

"Shit. I'm a bird, I don't have any saliva."

Now what?

* * *

Wolf flipped through the latest issue of _Playboy _that he had swiped from Snake's room a few hours ago. His one eye lazily scanned the uninteresting articles and the even less appealing half-naked models that dotted every laminated page.

"God damn, don't they have one of these magazines for women? I'm dyin' here! Who gives two shits about these articles?!" Wolf growled.

Of course, his relentless bitching about the lack of eye-catching males to oggle over was a minor distraction to keep his mind away from the events that had transpired earlier.

He glanced at the clock next to his bed. Sickly green numbers informed Wolf that it was 8:37 P.M. Fox had left the tournament forever exactly four hours and fifty minutes ago. Not that he'd been counting the time or anything.

Wolf was about to give in and begin to read the articles that accompanied the scantily-clad females when there came a loud, incessant banging on his door.

Rolling his eye and growling deep in his trachea, he yelled, "Pikachu! Get out of here! I already told you, I don't want a goddamn lemon snow-cone!"

"It's not Pikachu. I need your spit, Wolf," the voice on the other side of the door cooed.

The statement was enough to shell-shock Wolf into silence. All he could croak out was, "...Eh, wot?"

Falco stepped in, carrying a somewhat important-looking red envelope in his left hand. Wolf relaxed visibly at the sight.

"Geez, Falco. If you wanted another kiss, you could've just said so," Wolf said with a cheeky grin. "You didn't offer me the most attractive request just then."

"Close your trap. I need your saliva to seal this envelope, idiot."

"Oh," Wolf purposely made his ears droop, pretending to look sad. "Awwww, come on Falco. I wanna make out with you againnnnn." The whine was just for good measure.

Rolling his eyes, Falco hissed. "Cut it out and just the seal the envelope okay? I can't drool."

"Fine." The lupine flicked his tongue out from behind has sharp jaws and slowly began to slather it tantalizingly over each crease of the package, simply to irritate Falco. Wolf sensed he was doing a good job as the pilot's foot began tapping against the floor rather impatiently.

After about five minutes of licking, smacking, and bandaging, the message was sealed and Falco was headed for the door, calling a disgruntled 'thanks' over his shoulder.

"Wait a minute, Falco. What's in that envelope anyway?"

"None of your business," and Falco departed.

* * *

The music pounded in his ears. Beats, rhythms, melodies, harmonies of the latest chart-topping dance hit. They all burned their way through the sensitive cartilage underneath his coarse fur and into his brain. It infected him. Filled with sensations of passion, energy, wild exuberance. And he couldn't control any of it.

It was wonderful. How he'd missed the Corneria club scene.

Tonight wasn't about control. Tonight wasn't about morals. To hell, the night wasn't even about _thinking_. The mansion, the isolation, the fighting, the drama. All of it was gone from his brain.

What it was about, this perfect night, was cutting loose, having fun, and not thinking about a damn thing.

Fox had always been subconscious about entering gay bars. He'd always been afraid of protests, riots, lynching. But none of that ever seemed to happen. And yet he always stayed away. Fox would go to straight bars, the mainstream clubs. Women would hit on him left on right. Rub his thighs with their hands. Kiss his ears. Lick the clothing that seperated them from his genitalia. They always had to be slutty women. None of them ever tried to talk to him. Just touching, stroking, caressing, kissing. It sickened him.

Now here he was. Men and only men. What he liked, obviously. This damn song was forcing his hips into action, swinging him about on the dance floor, almost in a ghostly way. He knew his hands were high in the air, and he didn't know how to bring them down. Nor did he wish to know. Rocking his body every which way, Fox knew he was getting stares. And he _craved_ it. _Craved_ the feel of hungry eyes drifting up and down his body, wishing... wishing _oh so badly_ to get him into bed.

Of course, this put him in something of a quandary. He hated it when the slutty women touched him, but he loved it when the perverted men eye-balled him. At least the perverted men attempted some form of cheesy pick-ups and conversation before luring them into sexual encounters. See how it can get confusing?

With seizure-worthy lights pounding his retinas, and a new song pumping his eardrums, he almost didn't hear the voice whispering, "Hey," into his already preoccupied mind space.

Fox turned to face the addresser and grinned, his teeth glinting in the artificial light. Oh yes, tonight was going to be fun.

"Buy you a drink?" the newcomer asked.

"Didn't even have to ask," Fox replied coolly. Casually, he allowed the man to take his hand, almost in a possessive manner, and lead to him to the bar off of the dance floor, taking the time to examine his new 'friend.'

The man was a dog. Not a pure-bred wolf, but obviously a mixed-breed dog. He was wearing a T-shirt advertising the name of some dance place he'd never heard of, and tight (God, so tight) leather pants, clearly advertising a perfectly shaped ass. Seriously, Fox couldn't think of an ass he'd ever seen that was so perfect as the one before him.

His fur was a light, golden colour, almost yellow. The dog's ears were sharp and angled and his bulging biceps and washboard abs threatened to burst thorugh his shirt. His jaw was firmly set and he had a short snout, informing all those around of the confidence and superiority his demeanor held. The best part of it all? Those piercing green eyes that reminded him of the Zoness Sea at dusk.

"I likey," Fox whispered. "I likey, very much." Fox couldn't help but think a certain dog he'd met at a bar in Corneria City was going to get extremely lucky tonight. Who knew, maybe Fox would keep him until tomorrow?

"So what's your name, sexy?"

"Dreyfus," the dog told him, waving a hand for the bar-tender.

"Sounds hot," Fox grinned. "I'm Fox."

Dreyfus smiled, showing of a set of pearly whites that could make stars in the outside night yellow with jealously. "Nice to make your accquaintance, Fox. So what brings you to _The Deepthroat_ tonight?"

"Needed to get away." The vulpine shrugged casually. "Too much drama in my life. You?" Dreyfus stared at the ceiling thoughtfully.

"You could say that."

Two beers were placed in front of them, and Fox had the first one down before his companion could even blink. "Wow, that bad huh?"

Burping loudly enough to turn a few heads, Fox could only nod. "I just need an escape." Suddenly, he narrowed his eyes, and a huskiness he didn't know he could manage creeped into his tone. "Are you gonna be my escape... _Dreyfus?_"

* * *

"Ugh," Fox moaned slightly as he was slammed up against the wall of the dog's dark apartment entryway, with the dog himself running his lips anywhere they could reach while holding him up.

Fox didn't bother to slow them down. Their hips slammed together, painfully hard erections caressing each other right where the feeling counted. Each animal's lips were covered shamelessly in drool as they kissed as hard as they were thrusting.

They were lost in each other tastes, touches, and scents; blind, deaf, and dumb to anything else that was going on in the world.

One particularly hard thrust on the part of Dreyfus was enough to make Fox scream into the neck where he'd been biting. "Dreyfus," he hissed into the dog's fur. "Your bedroom. Now."

Naturally, he was quick to obey. The bedroom door was nearly thrown off of its hinges as it was swung open in despeartion. Clothes fell to the carpet in an enormous puddle around the mattress as the couple practically dove into it, the springs creaking in protest.

Fox took a free moment to examine Dreyfus in all of his naked glory. He looked even more gorgeous without any clothes to cover up his intimate areas, which were currently harder than steel.

"God, Dreyfus... you're so hot."

"Thanks, Fox. I was going to say the same thing about you," the dog retorted with a seductive smile.

The vulpine's hips bucked on instant as his new partner began to gingerly lick and suck on the nubs on his chest with an urgency. Moans and tiny gasps escaped his throat and he writhed against the sheets uncontrollably.

"Drey... omigod Dreyyyyy...!!"

"Foxx..." Dreyfus moaned, equally loudly. "Fox, j-jeez. Lord I wanna pound your hot ass into this mattress."

"Do it," Fox hissed viciously, needing to feel the dog touching him again. "Fuck me, Drey."

He smiled and accepted the invitation by sucking on his own finger lightly. "Ready?" he asked, holding his dripping digit.

White was all that the vulpne's retinas could process as the entrace slammed him full force. After the second and thrid fingers joined in, he was screaming at the top of his lungs, pushing into the invading forces hungrily. "Agh, my Gods... Drey, take out those damn fingers... I need your..." Fox trailed off before the appendange in question was vocalized.

Dreyfus wasted no time in fufilling the wishes, and he feverently began rummaging around in a drawer next to bed.

"Sweet mother of fuck, Dreyfus?! What the _hell _are you doing?"

"Condom," the dog panted.

"Fuck the condom! Get your ass over here and _do me_."

For a brief moment, the apartment owner was actually a little bit frightened at how vicious and desperate the fox seemed to be. But that fear turned to arousal in an instant as Fox wrapped his legs around the muscled waist and looked into his eyes. "I'm waiting," he said.

_Time to go_, Dreyfus thought with excitement.

A pained cry filled the room as it began.

"...Fox? Are you okay?"

"Yes," Fox replied smoothly, still panting slightly. "I... It's been a whlie. Just give me a couple of minutes."

"..."

"..."

"...Move?"

"Move."

So he moved. Moans, grunts and cries of unbridled passion, lust, and pleasure filled the still air of the bedroom as fox and dog mingled, releasing all of the pent up sexual and physical frustration.

"Ugngha... fucking pound me harder." Dreyfus complied, forcing his way into his new lover with as much force as he could muster.

"Ahhaaa... ohhhh."

"Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes uhhh yes!"

"No," Dreyfus cried as he moved faster and faster. "I can feel it... Fox, I'm gonna--"

"Just wait," Fox groaned, "I'm almost there too. Just go just go go just goo..."

With one final, halting scream of intense satisfaction, they came together, Dreyfus releasing his essence inside of the fox underneath him. The cries seemed to echo in the dark room and spiral into nothing as the duo lay in the throes of sexual revolution.

The vulpine just smiled in comfort at the warmth of what was on his stomach and inside of him.

"Mmmmmm, Fox," Dreyfus muttered as he leaned down and kissed him gently. "That was fucking amazing."

"Oh, I know it, Falco."

They both froze in the realization of what was just said. Horror crossed Fox's previously contented facial features

"No, Dreyfus. Please, I'm sorry, that wasn't--"

"Fox..." Dreyfus looked more upset than anything, and immeadiately pulled out of him, letting him whimper at the loss of the feeling inside of him. "Why... why did you do that? Who is Falco?"

"Don't worry," Fox immeadiately jumped up, cringing a tad at the pain in his backside and threw his arms around the dog. "Please just forget I said anything. Remember at the bar... when I told you about all the drama in my life?"

Eyes misting up with the coming of tears, Dreyfus just nodded against the vulpine's arms.

"That name is the cause of it all. Dreyfus, please forgive me. I guess he still won't leave me alone."

"But the name means nothing to you now right? Just you and me right now, yeah?"

Fox nodded and smiled. "Yes, and again -- I'm so sorry. You were amazing tonight. You. Not him."

Comforted, Dreyfus just grinned and pushed him down onto the bed again. "Thank God. I was scared that I wasn't good enough. How about we get some sleep, hmmm?"

"Sleep? Good sir, you haven't met Fox McCloud."

Totally missing the last name, the dog laughed and cuddled closer to him. "Really? Well I'd like to get to know him a bit better."

* * *

But even as they settled down from the thrid go around, Fox's now sex-free mind was clouded by thougths of the blue-feathered avian he'd betrayed by going to a sleezy gay bar called _The Deepthroat_.

* * *

**A/N: Again, I was gonna make it longer, but that's a lot to take in for one chapter. I originally didn't want to write the sex scene, but in order for that last bit to have maximum impact, I kind of knew I had to write what lead up to it. Sorry if that offended anyone! Please review!  
**


	13. Coffee, Battle, Log

**Crystal Nothings II: My Wings Angle Down - Fallen Lithium**

**Disclaimer: I don't own SSBB.  
**

* * *

Toon Link sat upon his favourite perch that he'd discovered that fateful morning with Wolf almost a week ago. The balcony had a calming, almost meditative effect upon it. It was a marvelous thing just to be able to sit and watch the sun rise, spreading a beautiful red-golden light across that infinite sea that seemed to stretch out in front of the mansion.

Kind of calming he needed before his match with Ganondorf the Love Destroyer.

He'd always been begging Link to take him swimming, but the adult always managed to come up with some excuse to say 'no.' I'm spending the day with Pit. I'm spending the day with Zelda. I have to shave my entire body using only a paperclip. My arm is broken. (No it isn't). It is now.

Yeah, ridiculous excuses were abound with him even now.

_I'm in love with Ganondorf and I don't remember ever being with Pit_.

What an excuse _that _was.

Stirring the coffee in the black mug in his hands with a small, ivory spoon, Toon Link couldn't help but notice that there hadn't _been _a coffee in his hands about twelve seconds ago. He smiled knowingly, but didn't turn around.

"Mornin', Wolf."

"Mornin', yourself," the anthro replied casually, hoisting himself onto the balcony railing with his own caffenated beverage on hand.

"Is this going to be a regular occurence? You and me, on the balcony with coffee?"

"That depends entirely on you, Toony."

Goddesses, he'd called him by his nickname again. The boy's stomach full of butterflies did about one thousand flips in a split second. Not a good combination, in his opinion.

Ever since they'd shared that kiss, Toony wasn't sure how to act around the lupine. Whenever he saw him in the halls, he'd run in the opposite direction. He would avoid sitting next to him at the dining table at mealtimes. And he never, _ever _set one foot near his room. But the boy had nowhere to run now,a nd he supposed he'd have to just face his fear head on. That's what having the Triforce of Courage meant, right?

"I... I'd like that, Wolf," Link confirmed with a small blush.

"Good. Because I was afraid I lost my little confidant forever."

Confidant? Wolf thought of him as a confidant? His blush grew even fiercer, but he turned his head away quickly at stared, unlooking, at the water.

"W-why would you think something like that?!" He asked a little too loudly, even for his own tastes.

Taken aback slightly by the urgency in his voice, Wolf said, "Well, it's just. Well I haven't seen you except at meals at all this past week since we kissed and I thought that--"

The rest of his words became an incoherent blur. Wolf had brought up the kiss. Casually, yes, but he'd brought it up nonetheless. What did that mean? Did Wolf like him? Was Wolf leading the swordsman on? Or was it just a fluke, a flaw in judgement, a minor fluctuation of character?

Before he could ponder the fact that he didn't even know what 'flucuation' meant, Wolf's voice re-entered his ears.

"Toon... are you alright?"

_Just ask him what it meant._

"...Uhm, Wolf?" It took all of his willpower to stop himself from stuttering childishly.

"Yeah?"

"The kiss... what, uh... what did it m-mean?"

"...I'm not sure I follow?" the pilot half-said, half-asked.

"Well, w-what I mean is... Wolf, ermmm. do you... l-like me? Like, _like _me, like me?"

Wolf was extremely shocked by the question, and it showed on his face. His eye went wide and his mouth hung a tad agape and he was twitching.

"Toony... that kiss didn't mean anything. You said you'd never been kissed before so I wanted to help you out."

_Oh_.

"Goddesses... Wolf, I'm sorry. I'm such an idiot." Before he could embarass himself any further, he turned and leaped gracefully off of the railing, still carrying the coffee. He hadn't spilled a drop. He kept his eyes glued to the pavement below as he rushed for the glass double--

"Link, stop! Do you _like _me?"

_Oh. No. WhatdoIdo whatdoIdo whatdoIdo whatdoIdo...?!_

"Tell him the truth..." he whispered what the sensible part of his mind was already saying.

Turning around, and taking a deep breath, Toon Link turned around again to face his emotional attacker, who's one eye was staring at him expectantly.

"Yeah. Yeah, Wolf... I think I do."

_Oh._

This one word had crossed Wolf's brain this time, and all he could do was sit and stare at the boy who was apparently crushing on him. He didn't know what to say. And goddamit _all_, he didn't know what to _do_!

"Wolf, I feel terrible. I'm sorry, I should just go."

"Don't go."

They were both surprised that the lupine had said it. With a gulp, Wolf resolved to push forward with his idea. He'd been a young teenager too, as hard as it might be for some people to believe. Wolf had crushes, and it was time apply this knowledge to a new situation. Someone -- a young teenager in particular -- had a crush on him.

"Look, Link. If you like me, that's cool. You don't have to leave. You and I... we're at different places right now... and you're only fourteen. Maybe someday, but for now, I'd love if we could be friends. I don't want this to change anything. Is that okay?"

In spite of himself, Toony beamed happily. "That'd be perfect!"

Relieved, Wolf waved him over with a paw. It would be a little weird for him knowing the kid liked him, but he needed a friend, and that's what he would be, no matter how much it fucked him over in the end. "Good. Now, let's get to talking about your match in a couple of hours."

* * *

Once again, the stadium was filled with screaming fans that that obnoxious announcer was stretching his jaw muscles for another day of shouting and annoying people.

He found the gig quite tiresome, actually. He didn't like having to yell. He didn't like the loudspeakers, and the announcer certainly detested the people who came to watch this shit.

Like, come on, who pays two hundred and fifty bucks for a season pass just to watch some random freaks beat each other up every now and then? Glancing out the window of the mic room, he duly noted that all of these people did. It was sick. They should just make a video game based on this nonsense and be done.

As a kid, Announcer was quiet, shy, and kept to himself. He had never really cared for loud noises or obstructions. Reading was his closest friend, the only kid at school that didn't jeer at him or yell obscene names across the classroom.

He'd been sent to a psychiatric institution for two months after his parents caught him sitting in his closet viciously 'making out' with _The Diary of Anne Frank_.

The two years after a high-school were a dizzying whir of heroine and slutty women who would do anyone for a fuck, and college sororities that he didn't belong too.

In fact, how exactly Announcer had landed his job was unknown to many. But it paid surprisingly well and his health insurance was paid in full by whoever ran this House of Freaks.

_Oh boy_, he thought with an out-spoken sigh as the crowd began to cheer wildly, _time to push thoughts aside and yell for the people._

"WELCOME BACK TO BRAWL!!" the obnoxious announcer screamed into the microphone, causing rolls of the eyes from the V.I.P. box where the Smashers (and Mewtwo) sat, waiiting.

Toon Link and Ganondorf materialized quickly onto Hanenbow, looking around in utter confusion at the sight of the brightly coloured leaves and the odd-looking fish darting about.

"What are these odd-looking fish that are darting about?" Ganondorf asked incredulously.

"I don't know, but I'm utterly confused at the sight of these brightly coloured leaves," Toony replied, his amazement for the arena temporarily blocking out his hatred for the Gerudo.

"ON THE LEFT SIDE," Announcer went on, "IS THE ONE, THE ONLY... err, THE SECOND, THE OTHER... IIIIIT'S TOOOOON LINK!"

The girls at the forefront of the screamers in the stadium were studiously waving signs abou with various adoring inscriptions such as, "Toon Link is my life!", "I want _your_ Triforce of Courage, Toon Link!" and "I LOVE YOU WITH MY LIFE, Toon Link!"

"ANNNND, IRONICALLY ENOUGH, ON THE RIGHT SIDE WE HAVE ETERNAL ENEMY OF LINK ACROSS DIMENSIONS AND UNIVERSES, SAY HELLO TO GANONDORF!!"

"Hey, I'm seeing one of those Links you know!" Ganondorf cried angrily, as the audience cheers died down substantially at the ex-overlord's name.

The screen above the V.I.P. box where the Smashers were (which the two fighters obviously couldn't see) displayed the following:

**Toon Link vs. Ganondorf  
Hanenbow  
3 Life Stock Match**

"FOR THOSE IN THE AREA, YOU EACH HAVE THREE LIVES. WATCH FOR THE SMASH BALLS!"

Toony nodded at the brief explanation by the obnoxious announcer, his animated eyes narrowing dangerously as he stared at his opponent across the bright tree.

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

"GO!"

Wasting not a second, the swordsboy launched an arrow across the tree they stood stationary on. Ganondorf doged it with ease, but the minor attack provided the sought-after distraction, and Link hit him directly on the head with a rogue bomb.

Dark energy surrounded his opponent's foot and he dashed across the tree, almost gliding through the air and defying the very fabric of gravity. The attack hit its mark and sent Toon Link sailing. He landed safely on a lonely leaf to the left of the tree, and, to his surprise it changed colour and angled in a different direction slightly as his rear end tapped it. Jumping back up quickly, he met Ganondorf's approaching fist with a quick strike from the Master Sword. Before he could recover from the first blow, he struck him again with an even more powerful slash that sent Ganondorf rocketing in the opposite direction with a minimally pained grunt.

When the attacked man opened his eyes, all he could see was the tip of the enemy's blade rushing at amazing speeds to meet him.

_CLASH!_

Everyone stared in shock, completely silent, as a war of power between the two began, their swords locked together, trying to force the other away.

"Y-you... you have to le-eave L-Link a_lone_," Toon Link hissed through tightly gritted teeth.

"N-never. I-I love 'im... _ern_... Can't... take that away..."

Ganondorf's obviously superior strength won out and he pushed the Courage off of him and sent it into the air. As gravity began to claim him, the blonde pulled free another bomb and tossed it directly below him. The weapon's large blast radius caught them both, but Ganondorf was the only one to fly off the side of the stage with a strangled cry, being the only one of the two to suffer the full force of the attack.

Reappearing in the centre with a glare that would have rivaled Death itself, he took off, sword sheathed, heading straight for a Smash Ball that had previously appeared without either of them noticing.

"No..."

_I'm a faster runner, and a higher jumper. I can catch him_.

Using his speed and floatiness to his advantage, he managed to catch up tis opponent just as his dark fist struck the first blow to the Sheild of the Final Smash. Promptly, he was struck in the back with a boomerang and the shell weakened further with several hits from the wielder's Spin Attack.

While Toon Link took the precious seconds to reel from his aerial attack, Ganondorf leaped again, unsheathing his sword for the second time and giving it a vicious swipe. The ball finally broke, and the Gerudo immediately felt immense power flowing through him.

"I won't let that bratty kid interfere with -- oof!" He was stricken by one of the Hero of Winds' surprise attack arrow. Suddenly, the power left him and re-formed the ball, albeit with the shell considerably damaged.

Performing a footstool jump on his enemy's head, Toony pointed his sword straight into the multi-coloured air and broke the ball again, now filling _him _with its energy.

He landed on an orange leaf in front of Ganondorf, and before either of them could grasp it, the Triforce of Courage shot out from the back of his left hand.

_Oh shit_, the trapped man thought.

Seeing his opportunity, Toony rushed his opponent and began striking him relentlessly with his blade.

"You will stay away from Link."

As each blow struck with increasing force, the attacks sounded more like a human face being slapped than a sword repeatedly cutting through a man's body without drawing blood.

"You _will. Leave him alone!!"_

Sword now grasped in both hands, Toon Link gave a near-frightening battle cry and sent him out of the arena with shocking force, bringing him down to one life.

The room of spectators cheered insanely, and their fellow Smashers stared onward in awe.

* * *

"That was amazing, Link! You did it!" the young Zelda cried, throwing her arms around her best friend. "You kicked his ass!"

Needless to say, the rest of the match was left to him to win. Ganondorf sulked across the room, accompanied only by Link, Bowser, and a glass of chardanay.

"Ugh, I can't believe that little welp beat me."

"Heyyyy," Link cooed soothingly, "It's okay. You did really great." Bowser cringed a bit as Link kissed him lovingly on his right cheek.

"'Ey Linkers," Bowser slurred with his strange accent. "C'mere fur ey spell."

Just barely understanding for a moment, Link got up and followed the Koopa King away from the still-brooding Gerudo.

"Methinks this dun be a gud idea."

"...What?"

"He's saying," Mewtwo said, having appeared seemingly from nowhere, "that you and Ganondorf aren't such a good idea. And I think I agree with him, strange as that is to say."

"Whoa," Link cried, holding his palms up defensively. "Where did _this _come from?"

Bowser and the Pokemon exchanged worried glances, and Mewtwo conveyed their thoughts. "It's just that... he was not just your enemy, but Toon Link's too, for so long... and he was such a Blastoise stool to both of you, _and _the... _other _Zelda prior to the Crisis. And the fact that he all of a sudden wants to shack up with you... doesn't that make you a little bit suspicious? My, what do you people say... 'weirded out?'"

Link chuckled. "Come on, you guys, you're overreacting. Ganondorf's changed. I know it for certain." His eyes then took on an argumentative tone. "And _you're _really one to talk about enemies, the both of you. That apalls me. That you would even have the nerve to say such a thing."

"Yeh? Welll yeh dun't sea meh tryna to git inter bed wit' the Mario brudders er Peaches do yeh?"

"And I'm certainly not sleeping with the Pokemon Trainer, Pikachu, or Jigglypuff. Am I?"

Link could feel his throat constricting with anger. "So _that's _what this is about. You two are just a couple of homophobes. Goddesses, you're worse than Ike." Turning on his heel, and looking rather effeminate whilst doing it, he raised a boot to stomp off before Mewtwo blurted out,

"Can't be a homophobe if I am together with Sonic, can I?"

Even Bowser had to take a minute to collect his thoughts. In the end, all either of them could say was, "Come again?!" (Or in the Koopa's case, "Come e'gen?!")

Blushing madly, Mewtwo would only turn and float away quietly.

"Just watch yourself, Link. Something tells me he's not to be trusted."

"Wolf helped me out a lot!" the other Link was explaining with a beaming face. "He taught me some really cool fighting stuff I didn't even know I could do! And defensive tactics too! I don't think I would have been able to beat Mr. Penis-Face over there without his help."

Marth was chuckling at the fourteen year-olds extreme childishness. It was kind of adorable. Luigi, however, was looking somewhat grave.

"So what's the plan for this whole Link--Penis-Face--Pit trifecta? You beat him in a match, Toony. Now what? How do you intend to 'exopse him' for whatever it is you think he's doing?"

"Honestly? I don't know..."

"Then how can you be certain he's up to anything?" Zelda asked, sharing the younger plumber's somber mood.

"I... I don't _know_, okay? But come on, Tet! It's _Ganon, _we're talking about. It just _feels _wrong."

The prince of Altea chose this moment to depart from the conversation. Young children could be so clueless on occasion.

Zelda sighed and fiddled with the apron on her dress. "Toony... I think you're being an idiot... but, if something really is going on that everyone here should know about... then I'll help you figure out what it is..."

"OH! Thank you so much, Tet!" he screeched now throwing _his _limbs recklessly around the girl.

"Yeah..."

OVer her shoulder, Toon Link just stared at Ganondorf, feeling nothing but unbridled hatred the entire time.

* * *

_Log_

_May 20th _

_10:30 PM_

_I didn't mean to. I swear I didn't._

_It just feels so wrong. _

_I was walking by his room. One of the many faggots in this place. He was crying._

_So I comforted him. And it felt so wrong. I feel like I've betrayed my entire country, my family, everything I've ever stood for in my life. Just flushed down the urinary desposits because I had to dry the tears of some filth..._

_My, it's so difficult to even write the words 'faggot' or 'filth' in such a context anymore. That book I was reading... it taught me a lot._

_I'm trying so hard to be more accepting. I have to be. It's the only way to survive... that's why I felt obligated to assist the -f- him whilst he was in distress. How could I not? I felt terribly guilty, yet so wrong about it at the same time._

_There is another reason to. And I can't pretend I don't see it anymore. The --fags-- gay people here... they are _good _people. The man I held and allowed to cry on my uniform... he was a good person who'd been done wrong by someone he loved. They love, too. It had never truly occured to me before, but homosexuals are just like heterosexuals in a strange sort of way. Some are emotionless pigs only looking for intercourse, while others aren't. The reasoning as to why people think differently (why _I _thought differently) are becoming less and less clear to me the more time I spend here. I suppose rape can do that to a person._

_As I relive the incident over and over again in my brain, I feel better and better about it, especially as I write it out here. I'm ready to be new. A trusting, accepting, forgiving person who knows the emotional pain of what another - however different they may be - has gone through._


	14. Mind Games

**Crystal Nothings II: My Wings Angle Down - Fallen Lithium**

**Disclaimer: I don't own SSBB.  
**

* * *

Ike had just come from the training stadium, tired and only quietly sweating from flinging his heavy blade about the stage, smacking at every Sandbag that the simulator sent flying his way. His muscles and joints ached in protest with each step that he took. It was understandable, considering he'd been training for over two hours.

Drifting near-lazily throughout the halls that led to his room and the promise of a cold shower, Ike's sharp ears became aware of a gentle sniffling from a door that was slightly ajar. Curiousity roared within him like a dragon, but, remembering that timeless saying, he made due with walking onward, letting questions gnaw away at his insides.

The very moment he rounded a corner, the sniffling escalated into choked sobs, and he knew that there was no way his conscience was going to let him off without at least investigating the source of the problem. So, he turned on his heel and made his way back the way he'd come.

It occured to Ike that he had no idea who's room he was about to barge into as he approached the maw of the doorway. Pushing gently on the wood, so as both to be quiet and to ease the strain on his already exhausted body, he whispered into the darkness of the dorm.

"Hello? Are you okay in there?"

The minuet sobbing stopped abruptly. Ike found listless blue eyes piercing through the blackness at him. Strangely enough, the person's eyes were the only thing he could see, almost as if they glowed.

"...W-what do you want, Ike?" he or she croaked. It was hard to tell.

"Uhmm... I am sorry. I heard you crying, so I..."

"So you came to nose in on my business?"

"No, of course not. I merely wished to ensure that you are okay," Ike said with a blush.

"I'm fine. You're too slow."

"Are you certain...?" the mercenary asked with a frown. _I'm too slow? What does that even mean?_

"Yeah." Okay, so now Ike knew that the voice was definitely male. Not overly surprising, to say the least.

The eyes disappeared as whoever-it-was vanished underneath what Ike assumed to be copious amounts of blankets, judging by all of the rustling. "Now please get out of here."

"You know..." Ike tried again, his guilty conscience still nagging relentlessly at him. "I'm most for sure not trying to, uh... 'nose in on your business,' but you seem really upset. W-would you like to talk?" he added with a stammer.

"Why do you want to help me, so badly? I'm just a faggot. Remember?"

Ike hoped the broken-hearted one couldn't see him cringe in the lack of light.

"I guess... I suppsoe you could say that's _why _I want to help. I've been trying my best to think of a way to apologize to all of you for my earlier actions. In this situation, I am hoping this would suffice...?" Ike turned the statement into a question with an upward inflection of his voice.

"Oh, so this isn't even about making _me _feel better. Its about making _you _feel better. What a shock."

Ragnell's wielder through his hands to the roof in exasperation. "Fine. If this is how you wish to be. Enjoy sulking." Out of spite more than anything, he stomped his foot into the rug to indicate he was leaving, untli a hand -- obviously a hand that he couldn't see -- and a voice called for him to stop.

"Wait, Ike," The blue eyes reappeared in his vision. "No matter how selfish your reasons are, I guess it wouldn't hurt me to let some shit out."

Smiling triumphantly, Ike ignored the 'selfish reasons' comment and took a seat at the edge of the mystery man's bed.

"Well, I know this is going to sound weird, but... who am I talking to. I can't really see anything without light." A country's hero stared sheepishly into the molasses of what was supposed to be the ground under him. It was like looking into a bottomless pit that you were falling into with nothing to claw your way back up. His left hand subconsciously gripped the sheets of the bed the two of them were sitting on.

After a bitter laugh, he announced himself. "Sonic's my name. They say speed's my game. I'm starting to doubt it though."

Digesting the fact that he was talking to the hedgehog, he pushed forward. "Why?"

"I've travelled across dimensions, protecting the Chaos Emeralds from the likes of Eggman, Robotnik, and even more..." he paused. "But I wasn't even fast enough to hold down a steady boyfriend."

"So... you and Mewtwo... broke up?"

"Nah. He dumped me."

"Oh..." Ike himself had never been a in a real relationship before, so it was hard to discern what the speedster's feelings were. "Sonic, I'm sorry..." Still unknown to Ike's eyes, Sonic waved him off dismissively.

"Don't apologise. It's not your fault. Mewtwo told me that there was too much going on around here for him to focus on a relationship. Said he would come back for me." The hedgehog laughed with ice again. "I know that's a lie. I've seen the movies. Just a way of lettin' me down easy. He won't come back."

Trying to sound comforting, but still a little disconcerted about assisting a gay person in the areas of love, Ike patted his blue-furred shoulder. "You don't know that, Sonic."

"S-sure..." his saracstic comment trailed into nothing as he burst into tears again, sobbing loudly and wrapping his own arms around himself for ill-fated comfort.

For a long time, all Ike could do was sit and watch him sob, not daring to speak a word.

Until he abruptly wrapped his own strong arms around the hedgehog and pulled him close. There was no love in the embrace, just comfort, and Sonic knew, taking the opportunity to fist his arms into the soldier's uniform and cry even harder, staining spots with tears. "I just want him back, Ike. So bad..."

Knowingly, he just nodded and rubbed Sonic's back, riding out the pain with him, and sharing the sorrow.

* * *

They had done it.

Master and Crazy had actually sent him the transport.

It had taken them a freaking week, but it was coming.

And what a week it had been. The last seven days had consisted of Toon Link trying to poison Ganondorf's breakfast by using paprika that he had thought was rat poison, Dedede stomping of several of Olimar's Pikmin, Sonic and Mewtwo blatantly avoiding each other, Luigi chasing Mario throughout the halls of the mansion wielding a rather massive spork, and Ike actually having civilized conversations with not only himself, but Link, Ganondorf, and Sonic to. That wasn't even to mention various other things that were too horrific to actually think about again without bringing on severe psychological trauma. For three days, the avian had been telling himself, "Paint can not talk, paint can not talk, paint can not talk..."

Using Snake's codec, Falco contacted Slippy, who was in the middle of crying in anguish stemming from the disbandment of Star Fox. The avian had barely managed to break through the haze of frog tears and firmly inform Slippy to meet him in front of Corneria City Hall in twenty minutes.

Wolf stood back and watched Falco pace back and forth, waiting on the interdimensional transport to arrive at the mansion. The lupine had a half-asumed, half-concerned expression on his face.

"So, Falco," he began, "What exactly to do you plan to do _when _and _if _you find Fox?"

"Tell him that I love him and get his ass back here," Falco replied as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

"Dude, you can't just chase a guy, girl, or whatever across dimensions to speak two sentences condensed into one," the one-eyed pilot retorted.

"Yeah, because we all know how skilled _you _are in the ways of love," was the sarcastic remark.

Rolling his eyes, Wolf chose to ignore the comment and move on.

"Not the point. Look--"

The transport arrived, conviently cutting off Wolf's idea of an intervention.

"Well, see ya, doggie. I'm going to claim what's _mine_."

Goddamnit, Falco _knew _how much the vulpine hated that name. Blood boiling, he leaped towards Falco, who was in the middle of screaming, "CORNERIA" at the top of his lungs.

As the two of them began to fizzle out of the plane of Smash, Wolf hung suspended in mid-air, with his hands in a choking motion, inches away from Falco's throat.

"Oh, shit."

"What?" the beaked one asked incredulously.

Opening his one eye, Wolf discovered they were already in the capital city of the Lylat System.

"Er, nothing. Just a quick trip, that's all... Hey, _wait a damn minute_!" he cursed angrily. "Since I couldn't keep my goddamn temper, I got stuck in the transport and now I'm _here_. I don't want to be _here_!"

"Huh, sucks for you, Wolf. Now you can help me find Fox," Falco replied coolly.

The blue/gray-furred one just chuckled in spite. "Aha, no. I'm doing no such thing. I need to find a way back to the Sm--"

"_Hey_," Falco hissed fiercly, suddenly having his hands wrapped around Wolf's throat much in the same way Wolf had been intending to do to him previously. His eyes smoldered with rage. "This is _just as much _your fault as it is mine. You _will _help me find him or I'll fry your ass right where you stand. Is that quite clear?!"

People who were bustling about the streets of the city seemed to weave around them as if nothing was even happening. Falco knew how that story went. Anyone who lived in Corneria for more than two months knew that if shit was going down, you stay away from it, lest you wished to get involved yourself.

"F-fine," Wolf struggled to speak due to hands clamping over his windpipe. "Will you let me go now--?"

"If you say 'birdbrain,' I'll find you a new holster for your blaster. And I'm not talking about your asshole, you little pervert."

Wolf's slightly intrigued grin faded, replaced by a look of resonant fear.

"Fine, whatever," he grumbled. "Where do we start?"

Falco began to walk, motioning the lupine to follow him. "Star Fox HQ."

* * *

"Let's see... Mini-load... One capful of detergent... Heavy wash... Oh, there's a toonie..."

A leopard wtih red-dyed fur, who ironically enough was named Krimson, poked his head groggily out from under the blankets on the bed in the other room.

"Foxxy?" he yelled weakly. "What're ya doin' baby?"

"Just some laundry, K," he called back. "Don't worry. I'm going anywhere."

Krimson climbed out of bed and stretched lazily into the hallway. His feline body was amazingly flexible, and his muscles stretched exquisitely in the morning light from the window, rear-end in the air.

Fox couldn't help but stare, and accidentally set the cycle on the wash to, 'Cold Water.' That wouldn't help...

"Need to get those... heh... _stains _out of those hot jeans, Foxxy?" Krimson asked with a telling smirk.

"No hiding anything from you," Fox leaned in to accept the leopard's offer for an intense kiss with lashing tongues and groping hands. To his dismay, the vulpine could feel an erection coming on.

_No. No. No. This is _not _going according to plan at all. I'm supposed to be gone, already_.

What sort of distraction from sex would he be able to produce while his laundry was still going?

"Oh, shit! The water's on cold," Fox said, quickly changing it to hot. Okay, so that lasted about three seconds.

Now what?

Krimson was biting his neck now, and it was even harder not to become aroused. Worse, he was already naked. There was nothing to be removed from his body. Not a damn time-waster in this house.

Surprisingly, he hadn't picked up Krimson at a bar. He was over at the Corneria Public Library, looking for something that he could read late into the night.

Fox knew one thing for certain. A man could make just as hot of a librarian as a woman.

And here he was.

When Fox shook his head and snapped out of his thoughts, he realized he was in Krimson's arms and was headed back towards the bedroom.

_Fuck_.

* * *

"Falco," Peppy said curtly, shaking each of his hands. "Good to see you again."

Slippy however, was less regal, and he leaped onto his friend.

"Gods, Falco!" he cried excitedly. "We thought you'd never show up! We gotta find Fox!"

With a bit of a struggle, Falco managed to shove the frog off of him and dust off his clothing. "Yeah, Slip. Calm down, though. We aren't going to find anybody jumping around like idiots."

Slippy nodded, but just before he was about to head to the control tower, he stopped and noticed Wolf standing sheepishly behind the avian.

"Hey, Falc, who's your friend?" Slippy asked him saracastically.

"Oh, right!" Falco had forgotten the lupine was with him. "Wolfy here is going to be helping us out with the search."

"Why, so he can eat Fox after?"

"I resent that, toad."

The fuse had been lit, and an argument exploded.

Peppy just shrugged, uncaring whether or not he accompanied them. Bad guys going good was nothing strange around here. Motioning for Falco to follow him, he grabbed the duo by their shirt collars and dragged them off towards the elevator.

They argued the whole time, oblivious to the fact that they were being dragged about like dolls.

"...flea-bitten backstabber!!"

"...date-less, nerdy, mother-fu..."

"...your fur is like a circus for fleas!"

"Do you have any insults that don't involve fleas?"

"No... no. That's... pretty much all I, uh got. I mean, well. I could call you a dirty slithering reptile. I've always liked that one, but, uhm, that wouldn't apply in your situation I suppose..."

"Would you two shut the hell up? We're here," Falco cut in.

Brightening significantly, Slippy pulled his shirt out of the hare's hands, and dashed to the computer where R.O.B. 64 had been waiting for them.

"Where was Fox last heard from?" Falco asked with narrowed eyes.

"Well, long story short. We've been calling Fox's cell every day since he came to Corneria a week ago. Trying to convince him to re-form Star Fox, you know? He's only been at his place once since he returned."

"So, don't keep us waiting, toad. Where has he been the rest of the time?"

"Every time we call his cell, R.O.B. here is able to trace his location. Peppy and I had been hoping that Fox could be better convinced in person, yeah? Unfortunately, every time we reach him, he's already moved on."

Peppy immeadiately moved to the console and began typing in a series of keycodes and passcodes with lightning quick fingers. A list of sorts instantly appeared on the screen.

"This," Slippy said proudly. "Is a complete database of every location we have managed to trace our friend too. Strangely, all of these are males, and he's never at any of their places of residence for more than about five to seven hours. Wonder why that is."

Wolf could feel the skin under his fur paling. These idiots didn't get it. Slippy was a virgin, Peppy was old, Falco was all about committed relationships.

Wolf was no stranger to the world of one-night stands. And he knew instantly from the information he'd been given that Fox McCloud had been around more of Corneria in a week than he himself had in a year. Eye narrowed into tiny slits, Wolf scanned Fox's bitch-list.

**Dreyfus Cordova  
Brandyon Anderson  
Panther Coroso**

Wolf's eye twitched involuntarily. But he moved on down the list with a shudder, anyway.

**Nathan Meija  
Axelin Sayers**

"We contacted Sayers," Peppy was saying. "But Fox had already moved on from there, as well. By the way, Wolf," he added daringly, "They're not very fond of you over at Star _Leon_ are they?"

"No. No they are not."

"Anyway, that doesn't matter," Falco cut in. "It's so simple. Just call Fox again, trace it to his location, and we'll go right away so he doesn't have the chance to leave. We can both messes sorted out and be back at mansion by the end of the day."

"Mansion?"

"No, Peppy. You can't come back with us."

* * *

Still flushed from the afters of morning sex, Fox groaned and reached for his cell phone which was _somewhere _in his goddamned pants.

Finding the miniscule piece of communication technology, Fox pressed a button and brought to his ear without bothering to check the Caller ID.

"Uh?"

"Fox?! Thank god, it's Falco."

Instantly awake, the vulpine sat straight up, and used his free hand to shoo away an approaching Krimson.

"Falco? Damn, your phone has some great service. Cross-dimensional calling, I gotta get me some of that..."

"No, idiot! I'm in Corneria."

A lump the size of an extra-large egg formed in his throat, and he struggled to swallow it down. "C-Corneria. Did you... quit the tournament, too?"

"Of course not. I came here to find you, Fox."

R.O.B. was busy tapping away at some switches and doo-dads wired to Falco's phone as the avian kept him busy with the call.

"Now, _why_ in the w-world would you want to find little old me?"

"Who is it, sexy?"

"_Krimson, piss off_," Fox hissed with indignation etched into his voice.

A new name appeared at the bottom of the list, underneath Alexin Sayers.

**Krimson Haines  
242 Underground Court  
P.O. Box XXX DDD  
190-987-6543**

"Fox, I love you. And I'm coming to get you."

The connection was terminated, and Fox was too dumbfounded by the incident to realize he'd been traced. Laying down on his back, staring blankly up at the ceiling. Still stunned, he ignored Krimson's gentle touches on his chest, even as they moved down towards his nether-regions.

"So what was that all about?"

Fox didn't answer. There was nothing to say.

Not to some hot stranger he'd picked up at the fucking _library_.

* * *

Ganondorf sat in his room, all alone. Link had gone to train with someone, he hadn't told him who. It was unimportant at this moment anyway.

Legs crossed, the Gerudo could feel his body hovering gently above his bed. The room was dark: Curtains drawn, lightbulbs shut off, and candles extinguished. His cape billowed in the artificial breeze that stemmed from his mind.

Meditation was always the perfect time to think.

And right now he needed to think of a way to get that little animated brat out of his way. Link was _his_ and only his. Ganondorf needn't let Pit or Toon Link take him away. The ex-King of Evil wasn't overly concerned about the angel, Link's amnesia more or less took care of that. The boy, however, had already proven himself to be more of a threat.

A threat to what? It seemed like everyone wanted to know.

Well, that was his little secret. As the art of meditation pulled him deeper and deeper into the world of his mind and away from reality, he could feel his body being dragged. Ganondorf didn't fight it, didn't resist. This was what he needed, this was what he _wanted_.

When he opened his eyes, he was standing in white. That was it. Just endless, blank, untainted white in every direction as far as he could see.

Undaunted, he simply held his position and stared down as eight random points on the ground in a perfect circle around him began to hiss and bubble like a liquid.

Power.

Wisdom.

Courage.

Conscience.

Anger.

Sadness.

Happiness.

Lust.

The eight personalities of Ganondorf all stood stationary and stared at him. They were the ones he turned too when he was facing a dilemma. After all, he was all he had right now. He doubted Link would understand.

"You are a fool," said Power. Power was enormous in stature, bigger than the actual Gerudo, with a booming voice. Power was the side of him that desired to rule everything. The side that had taken so much out of his life to subdue. "Take the man's Triforce and you can rule this plane! We don't have to stop there. We can take sources of power from all of these people and rule each of their realms. We can become unstoppable."

"No," the real Ganondorf muttered, unable to hold the vicious gaze of Power. "I... I think I love him."

"You may _love _him. But he doesn't _love _you," Sadness said, his sorrowful voice mixed abraciously with taunt. "You're worthless to him. He just needed someone to rebound him from the angel boy. Don't be silly. No one could ever love _us_..." At the moment, Sadness was also quite large compared to his other personalities.

Lust was smirking devilishly. "Don't let it trouble you, Ganny. You can get a few good fucks out of him before he ditches you. Ride his ass like... like... oohh, I can't think of a good comparison, but you know what I mean. Just imagine it."

"No," Ganondorf spoke up again. "I... I can't do this without him. You're all... taking me over. I need him."

Anger spat his words at the Gerudo's feet. "Fucking trash, that's what you are! Useless fucking trash! What's the matter with you?!" Without moving from his place in the circle, Anger leaned forward and hissed into his face. "You need to kill him. Kill him and take the Triforce. Turn your malice and rage into their pain. Control them all, make them hurt as you have been hurt."

"But... you all hurt me. I hurt myself. That's not fair..."

Wisdom and Courage, both miniscule in size and could easily be stepped on by anyone else in the void, joined hands and yelled as loud as they could.

"You musn't let them persuade you! Find the strength to look into your heart, and do what you think is best!"

"I don't know what's best, anymore... My emotions are out of control..."

"That's why you need us to help you!" Happiness stated brightly, drowning out the cries of protest from Courage and Wisdom. "Just think of how wonderful everything would be if it belonged to us?! Huh? Huh? I like it, don't you?! Everyone would bend to your will!"

Conscience, how was even more miniscule than Courage and Wisdom, took his turn to speak. "If you love him, you'll ignore your lust for power, and sex, and destruction. Let him go back to Pit--"

And in one brief flash of a moment, Ganondorf had the blood of his own conscience on his hands. Conscience didn't even have the opportunity to scream under Power's boot.

"Now that that _annoyance _is gone..." Power continued, bending over and wiping a spot of the emotion's blood away from Ganondorf's face. "Myself, Happiness, Lust, and Sadness can point you in the right direction." Power glanced with a grimace over at the other two parts of the Triforce, who were cowering in fear and holding each other. "Those two aren't even worth the blood. Let them be. They can't stop us."

Now fully on his knees, Power wrapped his vessel in his strong arms and whispered seductively into his ear, flicking his tongue dangerously.

"All the strength in the world will belong to us. To _you_."

"_Noo! Stay away from me_!"

In his room, flames began to surround his body still in meditation.

"_Aaaaaaahhhhhh_!" The blood-curdling scream tore through the mansion, alerting everyone who happened to be in the building.

Link and his sparring partner couldn't hear the screech from the training room.

But Gandrayda did. In an instant, she leaped forward and lunged for Ganondorf...

Only to be thrown backwards by an unseen force.

"Ugnh..." the bounty huntress grunted. "I ain't strong enough to break whatever curse is on him."

"I is!" Bowser interjected, spinning through the air, inside of his own shell. "Hrraaahhh--"

The Koopa King was thrown even farther away than Gandrayda had been.

"What do we do?" she cried in exasperation.

A bomb flew across the bedroom from nowhere, and exploded next to him, destroying his bed and sending the awakened Gerudo crashing to the floor.

"_Unnhnn_," he moaned.

Toon Link stepped around the debris and leaned forward curiously.

"Ganondorf?! You all right?"

"Kid..." he muttered, surprised. "Y-you helped me?"

"Chyea! I might hate your freakin' guts, but we can't have you tearing this place down. What happened anyway?"

Ganondorf shook his head and picked the splintered wood away from around him, wincing at a large gash cut into his side, pouring blood quite steadily. "I don't really know. I was meditating... and I lost it... Gah!!"

He cried out as he found himself being lifted over Bowser's shoulder.

"Wull cummon! That dere gash lookith preety bird. Wii gotta getchu to ther infirmirist!"

Ganondorf just trembled in both pain, confusion, and apprehension at being less than thirty centimeters away from the spike's on the koopa's back.


	15. Down to This

**Crystal Nothings II: My Wings Angle Down - Fallen Lithium  
**

**Disclaimer: I don't own SSBB.  
**

* * *

By his goddess, there was no possible way for Pit to describe in any way, shape, or form, how much he missed his Link.

Link, who wouldn't even talk to him anymore. Link, who wouldn't even look him in the eye anymore. Link, who was sitting three seats across and to the left of him from the table this very second, munching away happily on a turkey sandwhich, either being ignorant or completely oblivious to the turmoil around him.

By his goddess, there was no possible way for Pit to describe in any way, shape, or form, how much he missed his Link.

Some things are best repeated. No matter how many times it had to be said.

Those brown(ish)-blonde locks had always framed his sharp features and razor-edged blue eyes in such a perfect way. Every subtle movement from Link himself or the Gerudo next to him made his hair swing about in a form that mezmerized him. From the occasional twitch and nervous glances from Ganondorf to the movement of his pale, delicate fingers as he gripped the sandwich, and every laugh that he gave to the room when gravy dribbled slowly off of the bread and onto said fingers.

Speaking of which, why was Ganondorf looking like that? His deep, amber eyes were very shifty, glancing about as though something were wrong, and he was fidgeting madly. This having already been said, his lover was being completely ignorant... or stupid. Whichever floated his boat. If it helped him sleep at night. Whatever shorts fit best...

Or whatever the hell that useless expression was.

Anything he tried to think about always lead him back down the road of Link.

Damn.

Pit needed to get some friends.

Or something to that effect.

Not feeling hungry anymore, he pushed his chair back and strolled casually out of the room. He needed to cry some more.

The mansion had been abuzz about the mysterious disappearance of Falco and Wolf after Fox quit the tournament to return to Corneria. Pit couldn't care any less about Falco and Wolf. They could work out their own problems. He had his own to deal with.

He reached into the pocket of his toga and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper with some scrawled print on it. Smoothing it out as he walked, Pit silently read the list.

_List of Ways to Solve My Problem_

1. _Kill Link_

_2. Kill Ganondorf_

3. _Kill them both_

4_. Do nothing_

5. _Obtain some sacred relic that grants wishes and wish for him back_

6. _Stage a musical that casts you and Link in opposite lead roles_

Hang on a minute. Pit's sandled feet stop scraping across the carpet. _Obtain some sacred relic that grants wishes and wish for him back_. When he'd written that, he hadn't taken any of his options very seriously. He'd been thinking of a genie's lamp. But as he read over those twelve words again and again, another sacred relic of equal, if not more, importance, came to mind.

It was drastic, but he was going to do it. It was insane, it was going to do it. It was betrayal in one of its lowest forms, but he was going to do it.

Pit was going to steal the Triforce and wish for his Link back.

By his goddess, there had been no way for Pit to describe in any way, shape, or form how much he missed his Link.

Well there was a way now.

He stalked in an almost dream-like way to his room, secretly thinking about all of the different ways he could rob the sacred relic. It all came together in his brain like a math equation.

_Courage Toon Link  
Wisdom Zelda  
Power Ganondorf_

Taking the Triforce of Power was going to be the hardest. Ganondorf was big. And strong. And vicious.

Worst of all, Pit realized he didn't even know how one would go about extracting sacred relics from the body of another. After shutting the door safely inside his room, he began writing a new list. A list of possible scenarios to take the Triforces away from their owners.

He was going over this as calmly as if he were throwing a tea party for the stuffed animal congregation on Peach's bed.

* * *

"Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit," Fox was cussing as he scrambled to get dressed, even though his clothes were still half-damp from not completing the cycle in the dryer.

"I don't understand what the big deal is?" his Krimson lover asked with a yawn. "So Star Fox is coming here to get you. Aren't you like, the leader, or somethin'?"

"Shut it, K. Just shut it."

"Fine." The red leopard returned to watching _All-Male Review _on Caseshow. That wasn't important at the moment. He needed to get out of there before the team he had disbanded showed up. As she slid into his undergarments, the slickness of the material reminded him of the time that he and Falco had...

No, no. Getting away from Falco, remember?

Fox grinned to himself as the uniform jacket went around his shoulders. It was still damp, similarly from the time he and Wolf...

No, no, _no_. Definitely no _Wolf _in the brain.

Wolf was just sex. Falco was love... and sex too.

"Shit. Where did that come from?" he asked no one, but Krimson responded for him.

"Out of your ass apparently," he chirped with a smug grin.

"Fuck you."

"Already did."

"Dammit."

Fox just grumbled and grabbed one of Krimson's cigarettes from the bedside table and lit it with a feverent expression on his face.

"You don't smoke Fox," Krimson stated matter-of-factly.

"For the time being, consider me a smoker," he replied, throat thick with nicotine.

"For the time being?" the feline asked, confused.

"Yeah. Once this blows over I'll probably chuck 'em.

"Wh--"

Both were startled by the loud fist banging on the wood covering the entryway.

"Fox?! Fox, I know you're in there! Please god, open this door! I need to talk to you!"

Falco.

"Well," Fox said, carelessly throwing the cigarette in a random direction. "Time to make my quick escape. I need you to cover for me, Krimson."

"Wait! Will I ever see you again, Foxxy?"

Smiling, the vulpine leaned over and plastered a chaste kiss on the feline's lips. Quick and painless.

"Probably not."

And with that, Fox McCloud was out the window and was making his way down the fire escape, whimpering slightly at the way it rattled. He left behind a somewhat heartbroken animal. No matter. Another bread crumb for the trail of emotional destruction he'd left. Dreyfus had nearly cried when Fox told him what they had didn't mean anything and that he was leaving for 'parts unknown.' Nearly.

And Panther... Panther hadn't even been gay. Yes, Panther Coroso was just one of those 'desperate straights' who will do anything for a lay. Those people who have reached the point of desperation. Poor guy, Fox had felt compelled to help him out. So he did. Let Panther ride him like a motorcycle, he meant.

How had they found him here anyway? Had the group seen him on the street and followed him here? Impossible. Slippy and Peppy wouldn't last five minutes in a bar. But Falco would... Then again, knowing Falco, he wouldn't have been content with sitting back and watching him. Falco would've cornered Fox at the bar.

That ruled out the idea of beign followed.

Suddenly, Fox's cell phone began to buzz in his jacket pocket. He pulled out the device and checked the caller ID.

Falco Lombardi.

So that was it. The old team had been calling his cell phone constantly so they could trace his location.

"How fucking stupid of me."

As he climbed lower and lower down the fire escape, he pitched his cell phone. It flew threw the air and landed in a nearby dumpster, still buzzing with the promise of a conversation.

"Where is Fox?! We know he's here!!" Falco was screaming with his hand fisted in the red leopard's shirt.

"Uhm, Falco?" Slippy attempted. "Maybe you should lay off of him a little..."

"No! Not until he tells us where Fox went?! _So?!_" Falco's screaming had reached fever pitch now, and his eyes clouded over with a strange mixture of rage, and confusion. "_Where the fuck is my boyfriend?!_"

"I-I already told you," Krimson said, trying to hold his composure. "No one named Fox McCloud has ever even stepped foot inside this building."

"Bullshit," Falco hissed. "We traced his cell phone to this location."

Still trying his hardest not to bust the man he'd had sex with, Krimson just shrugged.

"Maybe he was walking by my door when you traced him, or however it is you people do it. No one named Fox has never come in here. Please leave."

Wolf, who'd been watching the whole scenario with mild interest, stepped up and pushed Falco out of the way while rolling his eyes. He helped up the feline that the avian had shoved to the floor and stuck out his hand.

"Wolf O'Donnell. Please allow to apologize for our friend Falco's _foolishness_," he said, glaring at Falco as he did so. "But, you see sir, as I'm sure you could tell by my totally unique and original name, I am a wolf."

"Yes...?" Krimson admonished, growing even more nervous.

"Oh, and certainly I don't have to tell you what an excellent sense of smell wolves have."

"N-no..."

"Well, my nose is telling that, 'Why yes, Wolf. Fox has been here. As a matter of fact. He was here about 67 seconds ago.' Would my nose be right, Mr...?"

"Krimson. It's just Krimson, now." The leopard was sweating now. Wolf could be bluffing, but he doubted it. Fox really had just left. He knew what good noses wolves have. It was their gift...

_...and my fucking curse, right now._

"So, Krimson," Wolf said with an innocent smile. "Where did he go?"

Defeated, Krimson threw his arms into the air with a groan. "I don't know. He told me to cover for him because he knew you guys were coming."

"What was he doing here?" Peppy asked with his rabbit ears raised.

"Well, Fox and I met a bar last night. One too many drinks later... you know," he was grinning and his eyes had glazed over a bit.

"Wait a minute," Falco's voice was edged with venom. "You had sex with Fox? My _boyfriend_?!"

"Hey, man." Broken from his reverie, the dyed-red animal held up his hands in defense. "He came onto me, all right? I was told he was single."

"No way," Falco muttered. "Fox isn't like that. He wouldn't just go around having sex with random guys. That's not--"

"This last week, it's totally him," Wolf interjected. Falco turned to him with a steely glare.

"Oh yeah?! And where do _you _get off saying shit about Fox? I know way more about him than you do."

"Maybe so," Wolf began. "But did you notice something about that list we went over back at SFHQ? He wasn't at each person's place for longer than twelve hours. Each night of the week, he was somewhere else. Trust me, Falco. I know about one-night stands. And Fox has been throwing himself around Corneria."

"Woah, woah, woah, he's been fucking dudes before me?!" Krimson cried. "That ain't cool. I wouldn't have done anything with him if I had known that."

Falco slumped to the floor, eyes were wide, staring at the floor, unseeing. "No... my Fox is a whore. He's a whore..."

He could feel Wolf's strong arms lifting him up off of the ground.

"Come on, Falco. We need to find Fox and get him back to the mansion, okay?"

"Okay..." Falco whispered, not really caring anymore.

* * *

"Hey, Toony," Link said casually, strolling up to his alternate self, albeit looking a bit quizzical. "What, uh... wh-what are you doing there?"

He was trembling, body racking dangerously as he lay on the carpet, curled up in a ball and mixing shivers with his shakes.

Cautiously, Link moved closer to him, reaching out a hand as slowly as he could, so as not to startle him.

"Toony? Are you... okay? Do you need Dr. Mario?"

Finally, he laid a hand on the boy's shoulder. Toon Link jumped violently, but remained on the floor facing away from him.

"N-no. Please don't hurt me anymore. I-I already g-g-g-gave you the Triforce. _Please_."

"What? Toony, what are you talking about?!"

Not wasting any more time, Link turned him over and screamed as the coppery scent hit his nostrils.

His cat-like eyes were wide with pain and fear, blonde hair matted to his forehead with sweat. The skin from the back of his left hand -- the hand with the Triforce mark on it -- had been cut off completely. Tears, sweat, and snot only added to the panic on his face as he trembled. He also smelled strongly of urine.

And there was something stuck in his chest.

"L-link. He... _he _attacked me. T-took the Triforce awayyyyy. H-help. It hurts. It really, really hurts!"

"Okay, its okay," Link said, trying to be comforting. "I'm here now. And I'm gonna help you. Just stay still."

"M-mmhmm..." he moaned in agreement.

Link wrapped his arms around the sharp, bloodstained object and began to pull it out, ignoring the screams of pain coming from the boy on the floor.

"Aaaaaaaieeeee_ eeee-heh-ee_!!"

"I know. I know it hurts, just hang on, a little longer. Dr. Mario?! MARIO?!" Link was screaming now too, even as he was still pulling, finally, with one last tug, he managed to yank the Master Sword out of Toon Link's stomach.

Someone stabbed him with his own sword. With a look of horror, he studied the blade's length, and the hilt.

No.

This was _his _Master Sword. Someone had stolen the Master Sword out of Link's room and stabbed his other self with it.

The other self in question was now panting from the relief of having the blade removed from him. A pool of blood began to form a morbid sort of bed around him.

"Mario?! Please _fucking goddesses_, somebody _fucking get Mario_!!"

"L-link," the weak voice travelled from below him.

Link looked down at his younger self and tried his hardest to swallow the fear and reamin calm for him.

"Yes, Toony. It's okay. I'm here now."

"D-don't let him get me again. Please don't let him get me again," his voice was a mere hiss now.

"Who? Who did this?"

"I-I..." Before he could speak the culprit's name, he went unconscious in a blink, laying limp in the other Hero's arms.

"T...Toony?!" Link asked, his own voice raspy and hoarse from screaming. He slowly stood up, holding the bleeding boy in his arms, looking around with an appearance of pure desperation.

"Mario?!"

"Peach?"

"...Ganondorf?"

None of these three people answered him.

Where was everyone.

"...A-anybody?!"


	16. Hustle Rose

**Crystal Nothings II: My Wings Angle Down - Fallen Lithium  
**

**Disclaimer: I don't own SSBB.  
**

* * *

For... gah, this was ridiculous. Fox had been darting around Corneria like a wild... uhm... animal... for the past three hours now. Peppy, Slippy, and Falco were still pursuing him. He was amazed at his ex's persistence.

The vulpine was strolling, trying to look casual, down a tiny side street in Corneria's slums. Gunshots and screams of "STRANGER DANGER!" could be heard coming from all directions. It was quite unsettling. Nervously, he turned a corner and into an alleyway so he could urinate on the side of a run-down apartment building.

"Ha. Take _this _society," Fox mumbled, unenthused.

"I'm telling you, I just saw him over here!"

Fox froze. That was unmistakeably Peppy's voice. The urine stopped flowing instantly and he could feel himself shrivel up with fear of being caught.

"Great idea, genius. Take the Arwings. That won't attract his attention at _all_!" Slippy agreed sarcastically.

Strangely, Fox couldn't hear Falco at all.

"Falco? Are you okay?"

Speak of the devil.

"Yeh..." he could hear Falco sighed. "Whatever. Fine."

Well that was strange. Falco didn't sound nearly as angry and desperate as he had been earlier. Fox had been able to hear him and his ex-lover arguing as he'd clamored down the fire escape at the side of Krimson's building.

In his own personal opinion, this was getting rather ridiculous. Fox felt like he was being hunted by for his pelt, and it was beginning to piss him off. Maybe he should just go out and face the trio head on. He could fight them if it came right down to it.

"Why would Fox come to a place like _this _anyway?" Slippy asked from a very, _very _nearby location.

"Maybe his next fuck is here," Falco spat, though quietly and without much emotion.

Fox subconsciously backed deeper into the shadows of the alley, away from the approaching voices. How had they found him so fast? Slippy's sarcasm was unfounded. He hadn't once heard the rumble of the Arwing's Plasma G-diffuser engines.

"Falco, lay off of him would you? If everything you told us is true, it sounds like he was pretty upset. I don't blame him," Peppy said gently. "It seems to me that you hurt him pretty badly."

The normally sharp-tongued Falco didn't have a response for that. He just began muttering something about rabbits and thumping, and raspberry jam as they kept walking. The footsteps were drawing closer, Fox was going to get caught.

"What do I do now?" the panicked vulpine whispered inaudibly.

"Hold it."

A moment ago, Fox had adored Peppy for his kindness, now he hated him for his top-notch sense of hearing.

"I just heard something," Peppy was saying.

"Dude, so what?" Slippy interjected. "I'm hearing things every three seconds. Look at where we are! What does it matter?"

"It sounds like Fox McCloud..."

Slippy's irritation with the elderly hare vanished. "Well?! Can you tell where he is?"

"Unless I'm going senile, the sounds are coming from that alleyway over there."

"Over where?"

"Over there!"

"Over there?"

"No! Over there!"

"Ooohhh, over _there_!"

"Oh, my..."

Fox jumped. Slippy's foolishness was going to buy him some time to get out of here. He looked around the alleyway that the toad unfathomably couldn't see he was hiding in. It was a dead end. How the hell was he supposed to get out? Lack of brainpower wasn't always a lasting distraction. There was no fire escape, only a dumpster.

A dumpster he could hide in?

Immeadiately, he rushed to the garbage disposal unit and opened it.

A filthy dog stared at him with beady black eyes, surrounded by mounds of garbage.

"Git outta here! This is _my_ place, find your own!"

"That voice!" Slippy cried. "It's coming from over _there_!" Peppy gave a resignated groan before leading the search party, including the still silent Falco to the alley.

A pencil-thin flashlight bleam forced its way through the inky black of the alleyway.

"Hello?" Slippy called nervously. "Anybody home in here?" The trio took calm, careful steps inside, with Slippy swinging the light around as though it were a sword.

"There's nothing in here excpet that dumpster," Falco muttered. "Can we go."

"Hold on," Peppy said. "Open it."

"Why in the world would we do that?" Slippy asked, confused.

Falco pushed past both of them and thrust open the lid of the dumpster and gave them an 'I-told-you-so' look as the homeless dog poked his head out.

"Geez!" he screeched. "I already told you this is _my _house!"

"Uhm, excuse me, err... good sir," Peppy said, nearly choking on his own words. "Did... did you see a fox come through here?"

"Oh, yeh, I saw him. Dunno where he went though."

"Oh, okay. Thank you." Falco threw the man a few credits. "Go get a shower and a hot meal, eh?"

The homeless stared at the credits with an excited expression. "Hot damn! I'm getting _top-shelf _booze tonight!!" In a flash, he was gone, thoughts of drinking running through his head.

"I guess that's that," Falco grunted, and they all turned to leave.

Wedged between the dumpster and the building wall, Fox was trying his hardest not to tremble and make the garbage carrier shake. He was up to his ankles in dirty gym socks and discared boxes of instant macaroni and cheese. His wide were wide and his claws dug into his own knees. The footsteps faded, and a rumble was heard, then all was silent again.

"Sure. _Now _I hear the engines," Fox groaned as he popped out of hiding.

He needed to get back to his own apartment, to eat and bathe, just like that homeless guy _wasn't _doing. Team Star Fox minus Fox had been all over Corneria, they wouldn't think to look for him at his place of residence. And if they would, they probably already did.

With a pleased grin, Fox reached into his pocket to retrieve his mobile, only to remember he'd tossed it hours ago.

Shoving his hands back into his pockets with a growl, he began the six hour walk back to Corneria Central Apartments and Bachelors.

In the skies, Peppy was relaying an idea to his fellow teammates.

"Hey, fellow teammates, I want to relay you an idea," the hare said over the comm. "Did it ever occur to any of you that we haven't even checked Fox's house yet?!"

* * *

"Oh, goddesses, oh goddesses, I need help, I need help. What do I do, what do I do?!"

The Hero's hands were stained with the Hero's blood. The lifegiving fluid that was slowly tearing away from the small boy in his arms was staining his clothing, but he didn't care. He had to save Toon Link.

A phone. There was a phone in the living room. Snake, Red... someone with a cell phone. He could call them. Call them.

Link's mind was swirling with panic as he rushed blindly about, nearly tripping over his own two feet and dropping the still-breathing body in his arms every five seconds. Everything passed by him in a blur. The televison set. The phone. The bookcase--

The phone. Link skidded to a stop and rushed back towards the electronic communications device, trying not to jerk around poor Toony as much as he could.

"Damn it! I don't know how to use this thing!" Link screamed in frustration. Balancing Toon Link on one arm, he held the unit in his hands, and stared at the console, shivering as blood trickled down his body.

There were numbers... he knew the numbers. But were those strange symbols on either side of the zero?

"Hang on, Toony. I can do this, I can do this..." Link whispered to himself more than to his slowly dying companion.

"L-link... l-lift m-my head..."

Astonished, Link stared down. Toon Link was awake. His eyes were dull and lacking the energy and fire they always did, and his little body was trembling violently with his heaving chest.

"Wolf taught me... h-how to use a... use a... phone. I...I, I... I know Red's... cell phone... n-number..."

Link hugged his alternate self as close to his body as he could manage without suffocating him.

"Tell me. I can help you. Give me the number," Link had to bite his tongue to keep the sobs back. He knew that he needed to remain calm. Remain calm. Get the number. Call Red. Get help. Anybody's help.

"Y-you have... have to... have to press the n-numbers in t-this order..."

The Hero of Twilight tried to stay patient and calm as he waited for the boy to take a deep, shuddering breath and provide with the life-saving number.

"I-it's... 551222993... 3... 3..." His eyes slowly slid closed, and he was unconscious again.

"Oh, no... Toony?! Toony, are you okay?!"

Desperately, Link pressed the numbers on the device that had been given to him, putting the headset to his pointed ears.

For a few terrifying moments, nothing happened. Then, a metallic voice rang through his head.

"_Please enter the final digit to place your call._"

Link's mind was now a black hole of panic. All his thoughts were centered around Toony dying, and it being all his fault.

Who was going to help him now?

* * *

Ganondorf sat shivering in his room, completely naked. The object was clenched tightly in his right hand, the moisture seeming to seep through his skin and into his own blood.

His own mind was full of deranged screams of anguish for him to hear his tormented lover's cries for help.

Behind the grave of Princess Zelda, Pit sat, holding the object in his left hand. He was crying, and he didn't know if it were his own tears of the wetness of the acursed item he held staining his toga. But Pit didn't care. When could Pit ever care?

_Palutena should tear my wings off for what I have done_.

The graves were too far away from the mansion for the angel to hear his Link screaming.

The Gerudo closed his eyes and stilled his brain for the invasion he knew was coming. His personalities were coming to get him again, and he had nowhere to run...

Smoldering brown eyes wide with fear, Ganondorf found himself again standing alone, still nude, in the white plane of purgatory, looking around, trying to find a way out.

But there was no way out.

Ganondorf could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand at full attention and his flesh crawl with fear as the booming voice of Power cut through the still non-air and its heavy hand fall upon his shoulder.

"You have done well, _Ganon_," Power's voiced hissed into his ears from behind. "Do not regret the events you have caused. Soon, your pain and anguish will be rewarded with strength, power, wisdom, courage, and total control over everything. You will become..." Power leaned closer and let his tongue dance lightly around the dark green skin of his ear. "..._unstoppable_."

"Eeheehee, this is all _your _fault!" Happiness shouted at him, dancing around playfully. "Why aren't you delighted? You caused all of this! I haven't seen you frown in such a way since you were stabbed through the belly with that silly Master Sword!"

Sadness slouched in a non-existent corner, away from the celebration of Ganondorf's personalities, revelling in the promise of total annihalation of good, and the abolishment of justice. The celebration of evil.

"It is true," Sadness moaned. "You will be the most feared creature in the multiverse." The anguished personality pointed at the Gerudo accusingly. "But know this. You will never be truly happy. You will have everything, and you will have nothing all at the same time. Do not forget it."

"Oh, still your tongue, you old grouch," Lust slurred drunkenly. "Don't listen to him Ganny." The emotion approached the body he was contained in and scratched his chin with a silly smile. Leaning over, he bit and kissed Ganondorf's neck gently, making his knees weak. "When you are in power, all of the finest men in the land will be _ours _to fuck. To rupture."

Ganondorf closed his eyes, praying for the voices of his good sides, Wisdom and Courage, to come to him. Advise him against the path he had already begun to walk down. Unfortunately for him, Ganondorf knew they weren't going to tell him. He _knew _there was no hope, because he _knew _that two spreading puddles of blood were forming as he sat, eyes closed, and prayed for the goddesses to help him.

There was still...

..._no one_.

Pit cried harder and harder, trying to will the negativities away. Abolish the demons that clouded his judgement and his heart. There must have been some other way, and if there was, the opportunity was gone now.

The angel had made his choice.

Oblivious to his pain, a bluebird landed in the grass next to him and began chirping happily, singing a song of delight and wonder to the angel.

"No..."

The bird continued to sing...

"Stop it..."

Still, the beautiful notes dictating all of the joy in the world drifting amongst the winds into the sky, not a care in the world.

"Uhh... _ooouaahhhhh!!" _

There was a terrible shriek, and all was silent again, save for Pit's heavy panting. The captain of Palutena's arm remained frozen in his position, holding his further blood-stained twin blades and staring at the decapitated body of the innocent bird.

It didn't know. It didn't have the chance to know. No chance to live.

"Great... now I have more blood on my bow... O, Palutena... what have I done?"

Continuing to hold his deathly weapons, he slid to the ground, sobbing the hardest he had all day. Each piece of the sacred bow clattered to the dirt as Pit buried his face in his hands, crying into the object...

"...you hold in your hand. Give it to me," Power said angrily. "Give it to me this instant."

Ganondorf just stared at it for a long time. It was soft and, for some reason, smelled like an exotic fragrance from the mountains he'd once encountered with Link. The texture was strange to his fingers.

"_Ganon_. You are nothing but a beast in the body of a man. Without that, you cannot fufill your true potential. Relinquish the relic to me, now. I am the only one of us that can contain without you losing control and returning to your demonic form."

He knew that his Power side was right. If he kept it to himself much longer, his own emotions combined with the power of the item he'd stolen would take over his mind, and he would become a wild, rampaging boar with only one goal in mind.

To kill.

Knowing he had not a choice, he held it out, letting it lay limp between his...

thumb and forefinger, pinching it as Pit held it out to the sky.

"Take it! I don't want it anymore! I want to undo the wrong I have done! Please, Goddess, take it!"

She would not. Pit had thought as much. Defeated, his arm fell to his clothed side, still pinching it.

_It_.

There was no taking away his actions now. Pit understood everything now. The angel was going to have to finish what he started. It was always one rule that he'd been given in Angel Land.

Never leave a job unfinished.

He wasn't sure if that one rule applied in this context, nor did he care.

If he was going to get Link back, all that mattered was following the rule.

"Never leave a job unfinished!" Happiness shouted in that contented voice. "If you do, you'll get your brain taken over by Grouchy over there."

Sadness remained silent, only wrapping his cloak tighter around himself and stepping back from the circle of emotions.

"You have nothing to tell you otherwise, _Ganon_. You must do this. We are all you have," Power boomed.

"So... so much b-blood. Why... why have you all made me spill... so much blood?"

"It is a neccessary evil."

Lust bent down to Ganondorf's level on the invisible ground. Lifting his head with clawed hands, the emotion planted a heavy kiss on his lips, wrapping arms around him and holding him tightly.

"Embrace uss, Ganny," he said in a slithering voice, "Let uss teach you to be great..."

The soon to be King-of-Evil could feel his mind shattering, fragments falling away, and he succumbed to the touches of his emotions, and let his soul fall away into nothing...

* * *

"One."

Wrong.

"Two."

Nothing.

"Three."

Silence.

"Four."

"Hello?"

"Excuse me, I need help..."

"I already told you people, I do NOT want your damn microwave ovens!"

"Six."

At the pool down in the Smash Mansion's lounge, the Pokemon Trainer was laughing uproarisly as water cascaded over his slim body.

"Aha! Yoshi!! Quit _that_!"

Mario's dinosaur friend just squaked with laughter and splashed more water on his buddy.

"Teehee," the princess said with a giggle. "Red, I think Yoshi wants in your bed... Ooooh, hey! That rhymes!"

The green amphibian gave Peach an indignant look before turning his attention back to playing with Red.

"_Behold the fishnet slut tonight! Hustle rose goes from limb to limb. Fingertip to painted lip. She sways her way up to hiiiim. Says 'Now that you're wallet is all lit up..._"

"Oi! Poke-dude!" Captain Falcon yelled from across the pool, over the shouts of the partying Smashers. "Your phone is going off over here!"

"'Kay!" Red yelled back. He started to climb out of the chlorinated water, laughing as Yoshi splashed him again. "Hey! Come on, cut it out, I gotta go get my phone."

Laughing and dancing to his favorite tune as it blasted from his phone, a tired Trainer collapsed on his towel and grabbed the mobile. Pressing a button to silence the song, he placed it to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Red?! Thank goddesses it's you!"

"...Link?! Where are you calling from? Why aren't you at the pool party?" cried Red, bewildered.

"I-I'm in the living room. Toony's badly hurt. I need help-- pool party?"

"Yeah, didn't you get the e-vite?" asked

"Oh... never mind. Listen to me, for goddesses sake you have to get Mario. Toony's badly hurt, and he needs medical attention or he's going to _die_," Link's voice grew hoarse and he trailed off, paralyzed with fear.

"He... die?"

Red stiffened, a million morbid and strange thoughts passing through his over-imaginative mind. Without waiting for an explanation from the Hero, he dropped his mobile and started screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Mario? _Mario?!_"

In a flash, the slightly deranged plumber was at Red's side, looking slightly flushed from three seconds of movement.

"What's the-a matter-a? I was-a just wooing Falcon's-a girlfriend!"

"Forget about that!" Red screeched. "You have to get Toon Link to the infirmary now. I was just talking to Link on the phone. He said that if we don't send help soon, Toony's going to be eating a dirt sandwhich..."


	17. I Did It!

**Crystal Nothings II: My Wings Angle Down – Fallen Lithium**

**Disclaimer: I don't own SSBB**

The second princess Zelda to join a Smash tournament opened her eyes groggily. Anything the blonde girl could see which shrouded in a pitch blackness that seemed to envelope everything. Zelda had no idea where she was, and her spotty memory was providing no assistance of reminding her how she got there. Back on the pirate ship, she'd always relied on her crew to _remember _things for her. That wasn't a captain's job. A captain's job was take action and kick ass.

Well, that logic was biting her pretty hard _on _the ass right now.

To top that off, she felt extremely dizzy and had the strangest tingling sensation on the back of her hand where the Triforce marking was.

Odd.

Her cerulean blue eyes combed the darkness, hoping to find something, anything, that was recognizable and indicated she was safe. Unfortunately, Zelda couldn't find anything that reassured such things. She couldn't find anything at _all_.

She reached a hand out into the inky black to try and touch something. If there _was _anything in this room, she would have to stand up to find it.

Using her other hand to balance herself, Zelda wavered precariously as she attempted to reach an upright position.

The tiny, dark room was instantly filled with a blood-curdling scream as pain shot throughout the former pirate's arm.

"Oh, goddesses that hurts!" Unprepared for the shock, Zelda fell back onto the ground, tears stinging in her eyes. "Unnh, what the hell?!"

Holding her hand up to her face, the princess wasn't surprised to notice that she couldn't see the damn thing, but… there was an undeniably bizarre kind of scent emanating from her hand... Almost… coppery?

Uh-oh.

As a pirate, Zelda was fully aware that the smell of copper never meant a good thing, especially when said smell is coupled with a mind-numbing dose of the tingles in the exact same spot.

She half-wanted to shout for joy, and half-wanted to punch herself in the face for remembering that she could use _magic_, and therefore create _light_. The ex-pirate wanted to shout for joy because light meant a way out of here, wherever _here _was, and she wanted to punch herself in the face because she was really not looking forward to the concept of discovering what was wrong with her coppery, tingling hand.

Spreading all ten fingers in the air to concoct a light spell, Zelda winced at the slight stress the fingers on her right hand were experiencing. Ignoring it, the princess tried to focus her energies on the task ahead.

A small, burning ball of red energy appeared between her ten arched appendages, but she gave another yelp as the impact of the spell seared her already questionable back-palms. Was that what they were called? Back-palms?

Shaking the useless thought from her head, Zelda closed her eyes tightly, both to push back the tears and focus every bit of power she had on the spell, which would hopefully keep her distracted from the uncomfortable feeling she was about to experience again.

The red ball appeared again, and so did pain. Gritting her teeth, while swearing to Nayru she could actually hear them cracking, Zelda held the ball in the air and crossed her hands, adding yet another stress onto her already whirring thoughts. Finally, the spell managed to break free from her grip and it floated idly in the air, lighting her prison.

First priority was to examine her hand and ensure she was in a condition to escape. With a deep pit in her bowels, Zelda slowly head her damaged hand to her face.

And screamed with terror.

"Oh my goddesses. Oh my goddesses. Oh my goddesses. No, no, no. What's going on?!" Panic immediately gripped the girl like a plague and she began to rock back and forth, tears falling freely now and her eyes wide with terror. Her panicked state of being was enough to extinguish the magic she had been concentrating so hard to keep alive. "Whereisitwhereisitwhereisit?!" she cried as her sentences began to run together in a stupor.

But the ball of light had stuck around long enough. Zelda had already taken in more than she could possibly handle at this point.

The Triforce of Wisdom was gone. The worst part? Absolutely not. Not only was the relic itself gone, but the _skin _it had etched itself into was gone, and the wound was bleeding freely. The loss of extensive amounts of flesh and blood had given her all of those horrid tingly feelings and coppery scents.

Someone had stolen the Triforce of Wisdom right from the back of Princess Zelda's hand. Literally.

With the light put to rest, Zelda was able to take a few deep breaths and calm herself down slightly, although all her mind's eye would show her was the image of her bleeding hand and the gaping hole where flesh and a sacred relic should be.

How had this happened? And more importantly, how _could _she let his happen so easily? Again she cursed her patchy pirate's memory. That kind of information was vital in this situation.

Zelda closed her eyes and began rubbing her temple with her good hand, as if that would coax memory lane to be reconstructed through Brain Street.

Of course, this was no time for sardonic humor.

She needed to find a way out of here, and get assistance right away. That dizzying feeling was returning to her, and it was beginning to get worse. She would soon pass out again from excessive blood loss. Zelda was no doctor, but she knew. Oh, she knew.

"I _wish _I knew how to get _out _of here!!"

The answer was quite obvious… obviously. Bring the light back and observe the surroundings.

Clear as day as that answer was, the princess was too scared to follow through on it. She didn't want to have to look at… that… again. It would be too much.

For a long time – Zelda herself didn't know how long – the former pirate just sat there in the dark, wishing someone would miraculously open some magical door that would free her from here and give her every answer she needed like a cheat sheet on a science test.

Was that going to happen? The chances were probably one million to none. Goddesses, she was beginning to sound like Sheik.

…_Sheik_.

That was it! She could contact Sheik through telekinesis and tell the Sheikah to come and rescue her from here. Still, the problem remained that she didn't know where she was and every second that ticked by on the clock of life she was losing more blood.

Not wasting any more of those precious seconds, Zelda closed her eyes and sent out a message.

_Help me, Sheik. Please to the Goddesses, help me. I'm in a dire situ—_

The telepathic plea for help was instantly silenced as a horrifying hissing noise filled her mind and scrambled all of her signals around like bees at the hive.

"_Nuhn_!!" she screeched in pain. _"Urahh_!" Even her injured hand flew to her face as she curled up in a pained ball. The psychic interference was intense and unforgiving.

Fast as she could, she disabled the link between princess and warrior and panted with relief as she sat upward again.

"Just wondrous."

The explanation for this latest development in the world of bullshit was rather plain. Whoever cut Wisdom clean off her freaking hand was blocking her from crying for help. Realistically, that person would have to have some sort of telekinetic ability.

Like a rousing game of _Guess_ _Who?_, that ruled out more than half of the people in the mansion.

So, who did that leave?

Link and Toony had repressed telekinesis, but neither one of them knew how to use it. Besides, neither of the Heroes would willingly block a distress signal from her, would they? Ganondorf probably did, as he wielded powerful magic, so there was a possibility. Perhaps that shape-shifting woman from Samus's world had some sort of otherworldly power?

Goddesses be damned! Thinking _Guess Who? _style was pointless! Zelda barely knew anybody here. Any one of them could have…

Could have…

Her train of thought derailed as another tornado of dizziness struck, accompanied by increasing dehydration.

This was not good. Zelda wasn't going to last in this room very long.

Suddenly, the train rebounded as the former pirate thought of something she should have a while ago.

_I have healing powers_!

As delightful as that was, the sun had a cloudy lining as she realized she would have to perform the spell blind. She was still relatively new at this whole 'magicky' thing, and she hadn't learned how to channel to spells at once.

Palms toward the ceiling, Zelda sucked in a deep breath as a large blue crystal surrounded itself around her.

_Drip! Drip! Drip! Drip!_

_Peet. Peet. Peet. Peet. Peet._

She knew those sounds. Those were the sounds of blood dripping from her wound onto her face. Doing her best to dismiss it as a minor inconvience, the girl formerly known as Tetra put all of her effort into Nayru's Love.

The girl's prison seemed to shudder slightly as the spell ran its course and the _drip drip peet peet _of blood to her face stopped. Wiping the red liquid off of her pale cheeks, she sighed with relief. That nightmare was over.

Activating the light spell again, she examined her work.

The wound had healed over nicely, though drying and clotting blood still worked its way around the would-be, magically deceased scar.

Ironically enough, the Triforce was still gone.

A strange thought occurred to her: How could she still use her powers with the relic gone?

Shaking the question off, deciding she was grateful that she still could, she trained her eyes around.

And two meters in front of her, sat a generic, wooden, brown… door.

"Fucking beautiful," Zelda cursed angrily.

On a side note, someone had shoved the defenseless princess into a broom closet. As she made her way to the door, Zelda tripped over a series of mops, buckets, Swiffer Dusters, and moldy chocolate.

The magic user had to shield her eyes and the sudden ambush of the light that the hallways of the building provided. Stumbling about, she tried to find her way to the infirmary. A sinking feeling told her that she wasn't the only one who'd been attacked.

Chalk it up to psychic magic.

"Everyone needs to settle down!" Luigi was yelling as a gaggle of voices erupted across the bland, white room. "We must take a minute to stop talking so we can discuss this maturely, preferably _without _finger-pointing –"

"GANONDORF-a DID IT-a!" blurted the older plumber.

Smacking his forehead and letting his fingers slide all of the way down his face comically, Luigi just sighed and stared at his brother.

"Mario… shut up. You don't even know what we're talking about. Your job is to stitch people up, not offer informed opinions."

"PIKACHU-a DID IT-a!!"

Luigi was mumbling something about poison mushrooms and shovels when Zelda finally meandered into the room, looking worse for the wear.

"Zelda?!"

"My god, where have you been? You simply _must_ come see what's happened!"

"Yer gown dis turn, yer hare all messy like. Who ya be bangin'?"

Paying the Koopa King no mind, Link rushed to his friend and ushered her away from the gawkers.

"Z-Zelda… it's… just awful. Someone… did _this _too Toony." To emphasize his point, the Hero of Twilight pointed at the boy who lay in bed. His eyes were fluttering weakly, and a piece of paper was clenched tightly in his little fist. His left hand was bandaged tightly, and dried red with his own blood.

The princess's heart leapt into her throat. She already knew what had been done.

"T-t… T-t… Tet…"

The ragged Zelda offered her best smile at her closest friend.

"Yeah, Toony. S'all right. I'm here."

"H-he attacked me in the hall. Cut it… out of my hand. And left."

"Toony… who did? Who did this to us?"

"Us?" asked an incredibly confused and mortified Link.

"I… knew before, b-but… I c-can't remember. Tet, I'm sorry I'm so useless."

Zelda immediately threw her arms around him as best she could while he was lying in bed.

"Don't say that. You're not useless. We're gonna figure this out together, I promise, okay?"

"Okay… okay…" With that out of the way, Toon Link drifted peacefully off to sleep.

Shoulders shaking with the effort of repressing her tears, Zelda stood up and turned away from the sleeping Hero, eyes misting.

"Do not cry, Princess."

"Oh!" Zelda cried in surprise. "Sheik! Thank Goddesses you're alright!"

Sheik just nodded. "Yes. Why wouldn't I be?"

Blushing gently, Zelda began to explain. "Well, you see, I tried calling out to you earlier…"

"You did? When?"

"When I was stuck in the closet! And no, this isn't a coming-out party."

Dedede's mouth, which had the joke in its grasp, just closed shut and sighed with dejection.

"What happened? Why were you in a closet?" Link asked, brow furrowed with worry.

For emphasis, Zelda gestured with her large head over to her equally large-headed sleeping friend. "That's why."

"Toon Link?" Sheik said incredulously. "Toon Link locked you in the closet?"

The girl threw her hands into the air with a frustrated grunt. "No, no, no! The same thing that happened to Toony, happened to _me_!"

The Hero stopped Zelda's flailing arms by grabbing her wrist and examining her hand. "It looks fine to me."

"_That's _because I healed it, you dummy. Someone cut off the back of my hand, just like they did to him, and took the Triforce with them when they left."

An eerie silence fell over the group. Each was lost in their own thoughts as they took turns kicking at the ground awkwardly.

_How are we going to figure this out_, wondered Zelda to herself.

_How do we get the Triforce pieces back_, was what Link wanted to know.

But Sheik was having some different thoughts than his companions. His question was considerably more relevant to the current situation, and it was beginning to prick holes of anger and concern all over his mind.

_Where are Pit and Ganondorf_?

As if they were in some sort of cheesy sketch comedy, the two in question happened to skid into the room at the exact same time at that very moment. However, the difference between a cheesy sketch comedy and this situation, was that nobody was offering the pair even the slightest hint of a giggle or strangled chuckle.

Pit's wings were flapping somewhat erratically, even though he was not moving a step further. Ganondorf was looking even more odd, amber eyes appearing to be clouded and uninterested in the world around him, as if he wasn't even really there.

"Ganondorf?" Link asked his lover cautiously. "Ganondorf, are you okay?" Half-expecting to find the back of the Gerudo's Triforce hand cut off as well, he inched carefully towards him.

All eyes were trained on the green tunic as it approached the new arrivals. Reaching the other side of the room, he took the other man's hand and stared up into his distant eyes. "Ganondorf… please talk to me. What's going on?"

Link suddenly squealed in pain as the Gerudo suddenly took him in a bone-crushing embrace.

"Do not worry, my love. Everything is normal. I just came with Pit here to ensure that you were okay and unharmed." Even his voice seemed a million miles away. Black and empty of any true emotion.

Although he was decidedly more 'in-the-zone' than his companion, Pit was still trembling violently and his angelic wings look as though they were about to fall off of his back with a simple _plop_!

Red took Link's role of joining the other arrival, albeit with a highly tuned sense of self-awareness.

"Piiiiit….? You're doing good, too, right?" the Pokemon Trainer asked him.

"Y-yes," the angel stammered. "I-I heard that T-t-toony was attacked and I-I w-wanted to c-c-c-come and s-see him…" he trailed off, staring at the floor and holding back his tears as she shook.

"Awwww," Red said, wrapping his arms around the angel like a father would his frightened son. "It's fine. Come with me and see, 'kay?"

Somewhat reluctantly, Pit followed Red through the path of distrusting onlookers towards the bed where the victim lay, sound asleep. Locks of golden blonde hair tumbled through the still air and settled over his face, thin lips pursing and unpursing as he dreamed.

Pit bent down, and whispered in the lowest voice he could muster,

"Toon Link, I'm so sorry."

Righting himself again, Pit backed away from the bed, still looking like he was a bit freaked out. Red just grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him into the crowd.

Luigi took the opportunity to reaffirm his place as leader.

"Everyone, it is without a shadow of a doubt that someone in this room has done this terrible crime to both Toony and Zelda. I don't know who it is, but it's quite simple that we rule out Fox, Falco, and Wolf, since they're still not back. Master and Crazy will have to be informed about this, and we'll have everyone under the surveillance until the bastard is caught."

"Caught?"

All of them, including Luigi, stopped and gave Link a strange look.

"Yes, caught," Luigi repeated.

"That's it?!" They could easily see the infuriation creeping its way into his voice box. Clenching Ganondorf's hand in a vice grip (though he didn't even wince), he stepped forward with his jaw set firmly. "That's all were going to do? Sit around with some stupid cameras and _wait_ for this bastard to get caught?! Goddesses, that's the fucking stupidest plan I've ever heard! Two people were almost _killed_, Luigi. This has got to stop!"

"Nobody," hissed the Hero, turning on every present Smasher. "Is leaving this room until the fucker that did this is out in the open."

Too frightened to object, the other thirty-three Smashers that were present just looked around with frightened expressions.

_CRASH_! _Tinkle, tinkle, tinkle_…

Even the Hero of Twilight was stunned into silence as Pit threw himself out of the infirmary window and spread his wings wide, catching the light of the setting sun. Without a word to the astonished crowd, he flew up into the air and away from him.

Link's eyes seethed with the most rage he'd ever been able to muster in his entire life.

"I'll fucking kill him."


	18. You're Perfect

**Crystal Nothings II: My Wings Angle Down**

**Fallen Lithium**

"The bus. Dear sweet, motherfucking, filthy…" his vulgar grumbling continued in that way for the rest of his walk home.

If you hadn't already figured out, Fox McCloud was very, _very _upset. And it was all because of the bus.

When you don't have enough money, or a cell phone, to take a cab, what do you do?

Well the answer is quite simple, you see. You take the bus. It's cheap, and all you have to do is walk to the nearest bus stop.

However, as Fox had discovered that evening, the bus can be the most unpleasant form of public transit in a large city.

He'd been to parts of this wonderful city of Corneria that _nobody _on Star Fox would want to see. Even worse than the slums containing the dumpster he'd hidden behind.

Poor Fox knew _nothing_ of public transit. He'd ended up taking the number four, to the number seven, to the number twenty-six, to the number thirteen, when all along he was supposed to take the number _sixty-four_. That's right; Corneria city had seventy-eight bus routes.

So, to sum everything up, he walked for three hours and twelve minutes to the bus station, sat on the number four, seven, twenty-six, and thirteen for another two hours, and _finally _was concluding the half-an-hour walk from the bus stop closest to his apartment.

Reaching the door, he wearily reached into his jacket, only to remember that his keys were in his room at Super Smash Brothers Brawl.

"Goddammit. I always leave my keys in my jacket. Always…" Another series of muttered expletives was heard as he angrily searched the apartment's database for someone he knew to let him in. Only one name was familiar to him.

Coleen Bachar.

Fox _really _didn't want to ask Coleen Bachar. But without keys or another place to stay, Fox swallowed his fear and reluctantly pressed the button to alert the deer of his presence.

After a few choked rings of Coleen's telephone, the woman answered in a smooth, bored voice.

"Yeah?"

"Hey! Coleen, it's Fox!"

Her tone immediately brightened at the vulpine's name. "Ooooh, Fox, you luscious piece of man-meat, you! I thought you were at that Smash thingy?"

"Long story. Listen, could you open the door?!" Fox asked desperately, hoping she wouldn't do that thing she always did.

"My, my. A long story you say? Well, why don't you come up to _my _place and you can tell me _all _about it?" That seductive tone that Fox never missed was definitely there.

Damn, she did it.

"Uhm, no thank you Coleen. I actually just had a really long walk home from South Corneria and I'm exhausted. Could you let me in?"

"Even better, Fox, darling!" the deer woman droned on. "Come on _up_, rest your weary head in my lap, and I can give you a nice massage… maybe a _bath_ with some scented _candles_."

Groaning inwardly, the pilot was about to go for the fake agreement, when she spoke again, her lustful tone replaced with inherent disappointment.

"Aaahh, actually, Fox, not tonight. _Law & Order: PCAMGATTDOTGP _is starting in a moment. I can't miss that show for _anything_. Not even you, dearie."

"Aw, what a shame," Fox tried to say without the bite of sarcasm.

A loud, whiny buzz was heard as the door leading to the lobby of the building was unlocked and the vulpine could _finally _push his way through and to the elevator. Exhausted, he hit the button for the eleventh floor and leaned against the wall wearily and waited out the ride to the penthouse at the top of the building.

The elevator ride itself was entirely uneventful. However, Fox _did _trip over the threshold of the lift when she stepped out, causing him to sit on a pocket lighter he'd been carrying around. And that… well, that didn't feel too good on the rear end.

"Damn it. No _keys_." Searching around the floor, Fox tried to remember where the Hide-a-Key was. Then he snapped his fingers in delight and reached under his doormat. Underneath the doormat, there was a keypad. The pilot entered a complicated sequence of numbers and symbols. In a dishearteningly anti-climatic way, a pedestal rose from the behind the keypad with a plush, red pillow that _should _have had the spare key sitting on it, but didn't, for some reason. "Well that's pretty weird; the only other person who knows the code is…" Fox stopped and his widened with fear.

Wolf.

Yeah, Wolf. Falco didn't even know. Only Wolf did. Wolf. And if Wolf knew, that had to mean Wolf was here, but he was at Smash… but there's no other way anyone could've gotten the key without destroy his security, and…

_Just shut up and go inside_, his mind chastened him. _Better sooner than later._

Deep down, Fox knew he didn't agree with that in the slightest. Late was always better. Regardless, he was unsurprised to find that his door opened with ease. No sort of resistance at all.

Carefully stepping into the penthouse apartment and closing the ineffective barrier behind him, Fox took two steps forward and softly called out the lupine's name.

"Wolf…? Wolf, are you in here? My Hide-a-Key is –"

His complaint about the spare key was silenced as the key itself suddenly hit him in the chest and plunked lifelessly to the floor.

As he bent over to pick it up off of his carpeting, a voice rang out through the apartment.

"I've always thought you've had the most wonderful ass, Fox."

Smoothly, he stood up and responded, "Back at ya, Falco."

Walking into his living room, he made another frustrated groan public at the sight of not only Falco, but Wolf, Peppy, and Slippy, all sitting in his living room. "How long have you all been waiting here for me?"

"About four hours," Wolf replied as if it were nothing, scraping away at something on one of his claws. "What took you so long anyway?"

"The bus."

"Oh, dear God," Peppy looked stricken. "Fox, are you okay?!"

"Not to worry, I'm fine, but… it was one of the scariest experiences of my life."

"Why are you all making stupid, pointless small talk?!" Slippy asked angrily. "We came here for a _reason_! And I'm _not _letting _any _of you dance around it like it's nothing!"

No one said anything. Wolf just kept fiddling with his claws, Peppy was entering something on a cell phone, and Fox was staring at the floor.

"Fine, then! If you guys won't talk, I _will_. Star Fox comes first, than you and Falco can work out your little relationship problems."

"They aren't 'little,'" Falco muttered indignantly.

Paying him no mind, Slippy turned to face his former captain.

"Fox, why did you disband Star Fox? Why did you abandon all of us?"

A bitter laugh was heard as Fox just began shaking his head. "_Abandon_ you? Slippy, quit being such a drama queen. It's not like I left you guys out on a desert planet with no food or water and man-eating Grolfnorfs right?"

"That was an oddly specific scenario," Wolf mumbled, still picking at his claws.

"Regardless," Peppy began, tucking his cell phone away. "You just randomly showed up here one day, and disbanded us without even giving some sort of explanation or _anything_."

The vulpine had a slightly devilish smirk on his furry face.

"Oh, really?" He turned his smirk on the blue avian. "Did you ask _Falco_ over there?"

"Actually, we did," Peppy said, much to Fox's disappointment. "He told us everything. Then we came to find you. For our own separate reasons. Slippy and I are here to save our team, Falco's here to get you back, and Wolf… well, I… I don't really know why he's here." The hare cringed slightly as the lupine just flipped him off and went back to scratching.

"Is that… true, Falco?" Fox asked quietly, astonished. "Did you really come here to get me?"

Falco stood up, and turned his back towards his ex-lover and focused his steely gaze out the window.

"Ya see… I _was_ here to find you… then I found out you've been whoring yourself around Corneria like some skanky prostitute."

In a rather cliché manner, Falco whirled and fixed him with a Falco-ish variation of the Evil Eye. "This past _week_, alone, you've fucked seven guys? Seriously, Fox. How could you hurt me like that?" The Eye was gone and his expression was replaced with one of repressed sadness and pain.

"I thought Star Fox was coming first?" Peppy whispered to the still-fuming Slippy.

"Apparently not," the frog replied, beginning to chew his fingers irately. That was when the argument began the natural escalation into a shouting match.

"_I _hurt _you_?" Fox nearly screamed. "_I _hurt _you_?! Oh, God, Falco. How could you be so fucking selfish?" He was pointing accusingly at Falco at his tail was swishing violently. "You told me you didn't want me anymore! That you were ashamed of me! How much do you think that hurt _me_? Huh, motherf…" From there, Fox just sat on the couch that was conveniently placed behind him and didn't say anything else while his face was buried in his hands.

Falco was reluctant, but he pushed forward anyway. "Fox, I… I-I didn't mean it like that."

"Then how _did _you mean it?" Fox asked from his sitting position. He wasn't yelling, and he hadn't yet removed his face from its shelter in his palms. "What else does _ashamed _mean?"

Cautiously, so as not to anger him further, the avian inched toward the seating furniture and bent down on one knee in front of Fox, who wouldn't look at him.

"Fox, you mean the world to me. I could never be ashamed of you. I mean that."

Finally looking up, Falco could see Fox's tears creating tracks in his fur, but he wasn't sobbing. Just staring. "Then… then why did you tell me you were?"

"I didn't _want _it to sound like it did," Falco lamented. "I was… frightened, because of Ike and his stupid little phobia. I would never be able to live with myself if something had happened to you because of that."

"Like _what?_" a much calmer Fox asked with surprise. "What did you think would happen to me?"

Falco burned holes in the carpet with his gaze. "I-I have no idea."

Fox's claws dug into the avian's jacket with a look of wild desperation in his forlorn eyes. "Falco… If anything did happen to either of us, I wouldn't be afraid."

"What?"

"I wouldn't be afraid. I would have you. And you would have me. That's all we would've needed. I've always believed that you and I could face anything together. We always have. Andross, the Aparoids, the Anglars. I had you by my side every time. That's all that mattered to me. _Ever_."

In a manner of cliché rivaling a straight-to-DVD romance film, Falco chuckled quietly and said, "I'm such an idiot."

"You and me both pal. Now shut up and come over here."

For the first time in what seemed to both of them like an eternity, the sharp, slightly odd contrast of sharp beak and warm muzzle meant in a flash of romance and they were on the floor, ravishing each other with all they had, much to the disgust of the others who were watching them.

"A-_hem_," Peppy coughed loudly.

Grinning, the two pulled apart and Fox sat back on his haunches. "Falco, I'm sorry I've been such a whore lately. The pain of losing you was just so hard to handle…"

Falco propped himself up on his elbows and literally pecked his vulpine on the tip of his nose. "You know I forgive you. The past doesn't matter anymore."

"A_-hem_," Peppy coughed again, this time leaning forward slightly and wrinkling his nose, trying to grab their attention.

"Oh, yeah…" Fox muttered with a nervous blush. "Peppy, Slippy… I apologize to you guys to. Consider Star Fox back in the skies!"

Slippy beamed triumphantly and slapped a high five with his old commander while Wolf sat on the arm of the sofa, silent, tail swishing in agitation.

"Great," the lupine said, rolling his eyes. "Everyone's all happy, happy. Can we go back now? I've had enough chaos to last me the rest of my life."

"You're right. Thanks for coming with me Wolf," Falco thanked him with a cheesy smile.

"Ugh, don't get all cheerful movie-ending and mushy on me, bird. You're supposed to the hard-assed one. Let's get out of here."

As the five pilots left Fox's apartment behind, they followed Wolf as he led them to the portal that would return them to the mansion, accompanied by nice, warm beds, calm, and most of all, _silence_.

Fox rested his head comfortably on his boyfriend's shoulder as they walked, and Falco accepted graciously.

"I've missed you so, so much. You know that?"

"Meh, whatever," Falco replied playfully.

"Falco!" Although Fox was indignant.

"Hey, it's like Wolf said. I have to be the hard-assed one."

Pouting, Fox nestled his head in his favourite place again "Well, you don't have to be that guy with _me_."

Happy as could be, the avian just laughed and led him onward towards their home at the mansion.

Up ahead, Wolf wasn't as bright and cheery as the rest of the group. He _had _no team to go back to. He _had _no boyfriend that could cuddle up to him and watch stupid movies, while wrestling around not having a care in the world about what the rest of the world thought about them.

Believe it or not, Wolf wanted that. Everyone who knew the lupine seemed to think that all he cared about was finding some ass to plow. But that wasn't true at all. Sure, his track-record concerning sexuality wasn't exactly spotless, but hey, sex was fun too. Envy and jealousy seemed to wash over him every time he would glance back over his shoulder and watch the two anthros exchange witty and sarcastic banter. Hell, he envied Peppy and Slippy, simply because they had the security of having a team. A purpose. A reason to get up every morning and face the day.

What purpose did he have? Why should he wake up every morning? There was nothing and no one for him to open his eye and smile at during the dawn of each passing day.

It wasn't fair, damn it. He hated sounding like such a child, but it was true.

"_We're almost there, Wolf? Aren't you excited?!"_

He actually stopped walking as the nonchalant voice of a little blond hero moseyed on into his brain like the territory belonged in that little magic utility belt.

"_Geez, what crawled up your butt?_"

"Wolf?"

The lupine ignored Falco and slowly pulled upon more drawers of his dusty memory banks.

"_None of your business, _dog!" _Follow that with that killer, presumptuous smile_.

Glass doors. A balcony. Sunrise. Coffee cups.

"_Have you ever watched the sunrise, Wolf? I mean, really _watched _it? It's so beautiful_."

Perfect.

It wasn't beautiful. It was perfect.

Wolf was a pedophile. He was probably going to burn in purgatory with the rest of the rapists, but he wasn't religious, so he didn't care.

That damn kid was perfect.

Leave it to little Toon Link to have that smile burn away the clouds of his mind. He was striding again now, only moving twice as fast as he had been before.

"Wolf? What's wrong?"

His feet ceased walking again, and he turned to face the people who'd accepted him as a friend.

With a cheeky smile that made them all more than a little bit nervous. "Nothing. Not anymore. Come on, we have to be somewhere."

Suddenly, there was someone waiting for him at the Smash mansion that Wolf couldn't wait to see.

About an hour later. The five some had arrived at the exact location only two of them had arrived earlier.

"Well, I suppose this is it," Slippy sighed. "Thanks for coming back to us, Fox."

"No, _I'm _sorry I acted like such a fool all of this time. I'm glad were a team again."

Hugs were exchanged, goodbyes were said, and jokes to take back with them were shared. Wolf just rolled his eye and tapped his left boot impatiently.

"Come on, Falco. Call the damn transporter thingy, already."

Smirking at Wolf's obvious impatience, Falco pressed a button in his pants pocket and an aurora borealis of colours swirled around them as the transporter fizzled loudly into existence.

"Promise you'll write!" Slippy called as he waved them off.

The three of them just nodded, all smiling, and then they were gone.

As the last of their atoms boarded for their ride home, Peppy's ears drooped with exhaustion. "Thank _God_. I thought they would never freakin' leave."

"No kidding," Slippy punched in, and leaped on the old hare and pressed their lips together ferociously, pent-up lust raging in his hormones.

They just sat like that, the frog in Peppy's arms for almost five minutes, lips squashed tightly against each others' almost painfully.

Finally, Slippy slowly slid down dejectedly and an awkward silence strained the night between them.

"No, eh?"

"Nope. We're definitely not gay."

Peppy shrugged, and they started away from the alley back to Star Fox HQ to discuss plans for the coming Corneria Conference Festival next week. "I guess the 'Star Fox man-love curse' that _The National Fibber _wrote about last week was untrue after all."

"Yeah. By the way, avoid coming to my room tonight when we got back to HQ. Princess 'O' Frogella has a new DVD out, and I don't intend to miss it."

Peppy shuddered violently and nearly threw up his lunch. "Ew, Slippy. That's really, really gross."

"What? Amanda took the _Tadpole _in for maintenance on Zoness and I need a little company okay?

"Please, for the love of all that is good in the world, shut the hell up."


	19. I Did It For Dearest

**Crystal Nothings II: My Wings Angle Down - Fallen Lithium**

A hand sporting an eerie dark… green colour of skin slapped a menacing hand down on the Hero's shoulder.

"Do not worry yourself with this business my love," Ganondorf hissed dramatically. "He hurt Toony and Zelda! He shall be punished, I promise you that." The amber eyes of the Gerudo still contained that look of cloudy detachment, and everyone in the room who cared enough to notice was becoming slightly more worried with each second. Narrowing his orbs slightly, he bent down and whispered in a tone that could melt butter. "Then afterwards, you and I can go _play_."

"Uhm, Ganondorf? Maybe you should just let Link handle this situation," Peach put in quietly. Zelda, who'd been eased into bed, only nodded silently while Dr. Mario set about attending to her more minor wounds.

"Hang on just a minute!" Link interjected with a steely look on his face. "Since when have you cared about what happens to them?"

The ex-King of Evil was already making his way towards the exit of the infirmary. A calming, strangely excited tone filled his voice. "I don't! Silly Link, you know I never did! But I simply can't stand by while a crazy-wazy wanders this place, can I?"

"…Crazy-wazy?" Dedede asked, unable to hide his disbelief.

Suddenly, that bright exuberance his tone had commanded either sank into a shallow depression. "Yes. It seems the angel-boy has become quite drunk with insanity." The newly saddened Ganondorf swished his cape dangerously and disappeared around the corner. "It seems we must dispose of him, no?"

"And you say Pit is insane…" Olimar whispered, clustering close to his Pikmin. "What did he mean by 'we'?"

"Himself and Link?" Luigi offered dumbly.

Link drew his sword and shield, waving them around almost casually while beginning to follow his enemy-turned-lover out the door. "I don't know what's wrong with him, but he's right about one thing. Pit has to be stopped. No matter what the cost."

Leaving the rest of the Smashers behind, Link dashed down the halls after the clunking sound of Ganondorf's heavy boots. "Hey! Ganondorf! Wait up, will you? You and I need to take out Pit together."

He didn't respond, and just kept walking as though he hadn't heard the shouts. Link's breath was becoming shallow and starving as he strived to catch up with him as the twisted about, not sure if he knew where Ganondorf was going.

After a few minutes of running, he at last caught up, and snaked a loving arm around his waist. "Ganondorf? What the hell has gotten into –"

His question wasn't answered as the Gerudo suddenly turned around and backhanded Link across the face. Reeling from surprise and the force of the strike, Link clutched his face in pain and tumbled resolutely down the stairs they had been climbing.

"_Do not touch me, mortal_!" Ganondorf cried. "_You are merely interfering. Get out of here before I vaporize you myself_! Hey! Don't _hit _him! I need him in the bedroom later! I'm just so damned _happy _this is all working out… We are creating a restless sea of destruction we may never be able to undo here. _All of you be silent! We are almost there!"_

And with that, the King continued his way up the stairs towards the roof. Link just lay there, completely frozen with shock. Ganondorf… had _struck _him. And now he was babbling to himself. Mere mortal? Interfering? The _bedroom_? What was all working out? Goddesses be damned, what was this sea of destruction?! He had so many questions with no answers right now.

There was also no way he could move to get those questions answer. The Gerudo's powerful smack had sent a shockwave through his slim, Hyrulean body. He'd been temporarily paralyzed on the steps. Wondering if there was black magic in that hit, he just lay there, shaking and trying to make sense of everything.

"N-no," Ganondorf was sobbing quietly. "You… you hit him! Why would you do that?"

Power just rolled his eyes nonchalantly and ground his teeth impatiently. "_He was getting in the way. And we all know you wouldn't have done a damn thing to stop him, so I did._"

Happiness clasped his hands together eagerly while grinning like a jester. "Once we get Courage from that winged kid, we will rule over this universe and I can have all of the _free chocolate _I want! The very thought of that warm, delicious confectionery just makes me all happy!"

"This is not wise," Sadness interrupted the party of the emotions. "We mustn't allow this to continue any more. We are just causing grief and pain the longer we drag this out."

"_Duh_!" said lust with a cheeky smirk. "That's the _point_! Grief and pain get me _so _turned on!"

Ganondorf just kneeled on the floors of his mind and hugged himself, crying and willing it all to go away, and wishing he'd been able to retain that now unreachable self-control.

* * *

Toon Link was struggling to get out of his infirmary bed, against the binding arms of Bowser, Luigi, and Snake.

"No!" he was screaming. "Let me out! I have to go help them! I have to go…"

"Shut it, squirt," Snake groaned under the pressure of holding him down. "You're too weak. You are in no shape to help anybody at the moment. Just stay still!"

Gradually, Toon Link's resistance was fading, as his strength was beginning to wear out. After a while, he gave in entirely, just laying there, panting and sweating, eyes wide, giving him the look of a woman who had just brought a child into the world.

"Let…me…up," he protested weakly. "Gotta go…help!"

Pit stood up on the roof, clutching the Triforce of Courage in his left hand, staring into the fast-approaching ominous gray clouds, harbingers of what would surely be a fierce storm.

"Toony…" he began, tears clouding his vision. "I'm so sorry it had to come to this. But I don't have any other choice."

Closing his wet eyes, Pit spread his wings so that the tips would catch the last rays of whatever sunlight hadn't already been blotted out. Raunchy winds gusted themselves through his hair, pushing it back to nigh-unruly levels.

The roof was a depressing place, perfect for an idiotic scheme like this coming into fruition. Someone had painted the ground yellow in a weak attempt to brighten the place up, but it hadn't worked. As time and weather took its toll, the yellows just faded into a brighter shade of brown. The stairwell that led to the place where Pit stood now was surrounded by a small shelter that was leaning slightly to the left.

That was pretty much it for the roof.

It was kind of ironic and slightly cliché. At this point, the word itself seemed too much overused, no matter how true it was. Rooftop, rain, and there wasn't a doubt in the angel's mind that some sort of battle was to ensue here.

However, the most important thing was to get the Triforce of Wisdom.

It was clear that Ganondorf had stolen from underneath his nose. Bastard. He was trying to stop him. Unfortunately, Pit was much smarter than that. He… he would come here, hoping to steal the Triforce of Courage from him. After that, all three pieces would be together. And Palutena's angel could have his biggest desire granted.

"I want Link back."

* * *

The vessel that was the Gerudo's body walked uneasily, teetering every few steps, the different emotions combating for space in his mind threatening to make the body itself go flying out of a nearby window with ease. The cape billowed dangerously as he swept around a corner, nearly knocking over a statue of Mario as he passed it by.

As expected, the lightning had come, casting a pall of eerie shadows across anything and everything they could reach. Ganondorf's body itself looked like that of a demon. It swept across the grounds, hiding, watching with amber eyes that seemed to glow in the black. If you weren't careful, one would fear this beastly apparition, ready to strike from the black mirror at any time, and devour your nightmares.

The fierce blue eyes of Link and Zelda I seemed to follow Ganondorf as he crept past a photograph of the two standing together in a meadow and laughing.

Maybe his broken mind was just creating those images on its own. Maybe the _pitter-patter _of the rain striking the glass windows was all in his imagination, a mirage created by Sadness. Maybe one of Link's old archery magazines that he slipped on was a witty practical joke created for the amusement of Happiness. Perhaps that pair of Captain Falcon's underwear lying several feet in front of his crashed body was to tempt Lust.

The other emotions in question turned and gave the horny emotion stares of… well; there was no way to describe the stares.

"What?" Lust hissed defensively. "Falcon is h…" It trailed off, deciding that the statement was best left unfinished.

His feet matched the thunderous boom of the outdoor state. Dragging along, in total disregard for the people who tended to the house behind closed doors.

The Triforce of Wisdom attached to a messily removed clump of skin jostled warningly in his pocket, only reminding the true Ganondorf deep down inside of what was to come.

"There's nothing I can do," he was whispering, still hugging himself and trembling from his tears. "I can't control it anymore. I want it to stop, but I can't make it stop…"

The feet began lugging the weight of his body faster. It was only a matter of time before all of their hard work would come to fruition.

* * *

"Damn it! I can't just sit here anymore!" Gandrayda cried, slamming her fist angrily on a bedside table.

"Gandra…" Captain Falcon muttered, using his nickname for the bounty hunter. "It's okay," he said, placing a comforting hand on her armored shoulder.

"No it _isn't_!" the purple shape-shifter yelled, whirling on her boyfriend. "I don't trust Ganondorf…"

"…as far as you can throw him," Ness finished for her, expecting the analogy.

"…and that psycho Pit is out there somewhere with human skin. Who _knows _what he plans to do with that?!"

"Well," Mewtwo interjected, earning a look from Sonic. "Technically, it's _Hylian _skin – oh, okay!" The last two words were uttered as the psychic Pokemon dodged a vase that had suddenly come sailing through the air.

Holding her gun in a ready stance, she started for the door. "I'm going to finish this once and for all."

Obviously, Douglas Jay Falcon followed his woman out of the infirmary and towards her destination, ignoring Marth, who was flicking his wrist and making whip-cracking sounds between his pearly-white teeth.

Toony shot his pirate captain friend a glare across the space between their beds. "Tet… we have to help them, you know that, don't you?"

She nodded gravely. "I do. But being the stupid adults they are, they'll never let us out of here."

"Oh my goddesses! Zelda, look over there!!"

Taken completely by surprise, Zelda glanced in the direction that her best friend had pointed.

"_Run_!!" he screamed to everyone else.

A terrified Princess Peach led the stampede of Smashers out of the infirmary and somewhere decidedly safer, her pretty face almost being trampled by the panicking King Dedede, who was screaming "ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod" as they dashed.

"Wow," Zelda said, utterly dumbfounded. "How did you know they would fall for that?"

Toon Link just smiled and shook his head. "Logic, my dear Tet. With Peach and Dedede in the room, how could they _not_?"

Zelda mirrored his smile as she slid out of bed and walked over to him. "And how did you know they would be selfish enough to forget about us?"

Shrugging, the boy just kept grinning. "That's just how people are. It's their nature."

Carefully, he slid out from underneath the bed-covers and into the arms of Zelda, looking slightly comical. Hoisting himself upward and leaning on the girl for support, they started for the door.

"I must say, it was a very clever idea."

Ike stood in the doorway, leaning casually against the door frame, knowing full well that his girth was obstructing their exit. His blade, Ragnell, was in his hand, tipped over his back as his arm was supporting him against the doorframe.

"It was, wasn't it?" Toony agreed. "Can you let us through now?"

"I'm afraid I can't do that," Ike said, giving them a toothy smile. "You see. You and Miss Pirate Captain over there aren't leaving this room today. You need to stay in _bed_. Where you can be safe and warm."

The Master Sword was at the throat of Ragnell's wielder in seconds.

"Listen to me. People are in danger. It involves me. You have to let me pass," Toon Link whispered dramatically. "Something terrible might happen."

Slowly and theatrically, Ike let the golden sword hit the ground. Zelda swore her feet actually left the ground for a few centimeters as the heavy weapon struck the linoleum flooring.

The blonde boy held his legendary sword steady, not even blinking under the scrutinizing gaze of the older man's Ragnell.

"What's wrong with you, Ike?" the princess inquired, moving closer. "He's just a kid. Why won't you just let us on through so we can sort this mess out?"

"I'm under very strict orders. My master would be most disappointed if I _disobeyed him!_" With those words, Ike's sword was cutting through the air, aiming straight for Toon Link's throat.

Being the nimble young boy he was, he dodged the warrior's slow attack with ease. Being the _injured_, nimble young boy he was, the clever maneuver was accompanied by a spill to the ground, and having his head knocked against a steel bed frame.

Stars spun in his vision, but Ike was approaching. Still having a minor dizzying sensation, Link pointed his weapon and drew his shield for defense.

"That piece of plywood won't protect you from the might of my sword," Ike rumbled in a low voice.

He was met with a flying kick to the back of the head with a high-heeled shoe.

Even with a dress on, Princess Zelda II was quite the fighter. She followed up her kick with several punches to the head as she dug her heels into Ike's arm, causing him to hiss in recoil.

Back-flipping off of the man, she delivered a roundhouse kick to his face, and added a strike of magic to a downward smack on his head.

Ike stumbled backwards precariously, holding his injured cranium and muttering various curses. Zelda grinned at Toon Link on the ground.

"I told you I can still fight."

Ragnell's wielder had pulled himself up from the pain of her strikes, and was lumbering towards them like Sasquatch, except he had a really, _really _big sword, blue hair swaying with his efforts.

Both of the former Triforce holders jumped in opposite directions to avoid the coming strike. Wisely, Ike rounded a horizontal slash that caught Zelda's arm.

She screamed in agony and collapsed on the ground, cursing and holding her Latest Wound of the Day. Thankfully, the cut wasn't deep, but blood _was _trickling at a slow pace.

Her platinum blonde hair shone in the light from the window as she managed to stagger to her feet, fixing the blue-haired swordsman with a death glare. "Bastard," she spat.

"Tet, you have to go after them!"

"What?" the addressee cried in confusion. "I can't! I won't leave you alone here with this psycho!"

"I'll be fine," the younger Link said, hoping he was sounding more assured than he felt. "You're injured. You've got no business staying here and you know it. Go after them, please!"

For a frozen eternity, Zelda could only stay rooted to the ground, clutching her gash and frowning at the one who'd told her to leave.

Did he think she was useless? That she couldn't be of any help? No, it's Toony. He would never think that lowly of her.

She couldn't help but admit the expressive boy had a point. There was a situation, and if he couldn't go stop it, then she would have to. Nodding to him and giving him encouraging thumbs up, Zelda dashed out of the room.

Ike didn't even try to stop her from leaving, his smoldering eyes still set on Toon Link.

"You were wrong to cast your little friend away," Ike said with a dark grin. "You're going to need all of the help you can get."

Unbelievable.

* * *

There _had _to have been dark magic in that slap. Link was still thoroughly paralyzed on the stairs, and yes, pain was still shooting through his body, as if Ganondorf had loaded his fist with venom before hitting him.

Oh well, with the inability to move came the time to think.

_Why did the guy that's supposed to love me… hit me like that_? The Hero of Twilight knew that if he was going to be asking himself that question, he had a hundred others to follow it up with.

Goddesses, he needed a drink. An _alcoholic _drink.

…

Now.

…

It didn't come.

The fire-lit torches that Samus Aran had once admired now admonished the Hero on the stairs. He felt like there was _something _awaiting him just over the top of these stairs. Something _big_. Something that would change his life and the lives of everyone here… just like the deaths of Zelda and the aforementioned bounty hunter.

"Damn it!" cursed he out loud. "Can't we have _one freaking tournament _without this bullshit going on in the background?!"

Of course, he was greeted with no response.

His left foot twitched, if only slightly. However, it was enough to make the Hero frown thoughtfully down at the product of more than a few very disgusting fetishes. It was time to move, his foot had told him so.

"Wiggle… your big… toe."

The toe just sat stationary inside his boot, seeming to mock him from its paralyzed position.

"Wiggle… your big… toe."

Nothing.

* * *

They were coming. His gut never lied to him in a situation like this.

Pit stretched his wings again, now to prepare himself. No one could defeat him.

Except for maybe this storm that was threatening to consume everything in its cold, gray gaze. The angel ran a hand through his hand through his already tussled brunette locks and took in the scent of rain. Palutena had always hated it, but it was never failed to fill him with a sense of belonging and wonder.

Where was that sense of belonging and wonder now? Most likely, Pit had thrown it out the window when he'd attacked a helpless young Hylian in the hallway and practically gutted his left hand.

It was a worthy cause, though, so it didn't matter what the repercussions were.

"Oh, Link," he said, speaking to the approaching weather. "You'll be mine again soon enough. Don't worry."

"I'm sure that won't be a concern," the voice of Lust purred across the rooftop.

Pit, not knowing, whirled around with wide eyes. Upon seeing him, he seemed to calm down and faced away from him.

"You… you… you took him away from me. Everything I strived for, you took it all away."

"_Nonsense!" _Power boomed during his invasion of Ganondorf's vocal chords. "_Anything you lost is your own fault, child! You couldn't be strong enough to save your love. That is all you are, Pit. You are a _weakling."

"I was in a coma," Pit stated matter-of-factly. "There wasn't much I could _do_."

"Awwww, boo-hoo!" Even though he wasn't looking, Pit was still extremely confused as to Ganondorf's instant change of attitude. The Gerudo actually began _dancing _around him. "Is Pity-Wity all sad? Don't wo-rry!" A hand flew out of the air, and Pit flinched, unprepared for a strike.

Instead, the hand pinched his cheek lovingly, like a parent would do to an infant. "I pwomise that after all of _this_…" he gestured out to their surroundings, "you'll never be sad _again_!"

Sadness took over, resting a weary hand on the angel's wary shoulder. "Now listen to me, Pit. You mustn't allow us to come into the possession of the Triforce of Cour—"

Dumbfounded, Pit could only adjust his crown in response.

Suddenly, Ganondorf threw himself to the floor of the roof, writhing in pain and clutching his head.

"N-no… S-s-t-top iiiiittt!" something in his brain snapped, and his whole body became enveloped in what looked like purple flames.

Pit just stepped back, blades drawn. "Ganondorf?! Are you…"

As soon as they had come, the dark embers vanished and Ganondorf lay on the roof, looking completely unscathed.

The angel nearly threw his blades in a show of fear when the ex-King of Evil just stood up, and rotated his neck until it made several unpleasant cracking sounds.

"_You were always such a party-pooper," _the booming voice grumbled, using the term with the utmost sarcasm. "_Too bad grief is too powerful an emotion to destroy_."

"Us? Who is 'us'? What the hell is going on?" Pit took a defensive stance, sacred blow split into to sharp ends, prepared for battle, acting as though he were the victim in the entire situation.

In response, a sickeningly glowing white blade was produced from the dark, and was pointed at him.

"_This is what you want? So it shall be!_"

As the rain began to fall, Ganondorf turned his face up to it, sticking his weapon into the air and mirroring the speech given by this very vessel during a climatic battle with Link in Hyrule Field.

"_An impressive looking blade. Nothing more. Do you hear my desire? To take this foul blade, and use it to blot out the light forever!"_

"Recycling battle speeches?" Palutena's angel asked with a scoff. "Kind of cheap, don't you think?"

Slowly, but assuredly, the head of what wasn't truly Ganondorf brought itself and the sword back downwards, boring his gaze into the brunette.

"_Recycled, yes, alas, it is a wise one_."

Rain was falling blankets now, effectively drenching the combatants in a matter of seconds.

"No audiences," Pit said, taking a step towards his enemy.

"_No obnoxious announcer_." The movement was reciprocated in turn.

"No one to get in the way."

"_Just you…"_

"…and I."

Holding up one of his double blades, he made no sign of fear or remorse as he crossed weaponry with what he thought to be Ganondorf, a show of some warped type of honor that would not be present, with or without the gesture.

The skinned artifacts that could grant any wish to any being were more than enough proof of that.

Blankets no longer enough of a description, it precipitated upon them with a driving wind that bit into their clothing, sending shivers down each of their mentally discharged bodies.

Despite this, Pit struck.

Snapping his swords back together, Pit fired one of his goddesses' sacred arrows at the Gerudo, who deflected it with his blade as though it were nothing more than a common fly.

The brunette angel doubled back, narrowly avoiding a swipe from Ganondorf. Unknowingly, he stepped into a puddle and was thrown backwards by his lack of coordination. Link had always teased him about that.

Although they hadn't been fighting very long, the effort required to hold them up against the weather was already beginning to tire both sides out. The angel was visibly panting, sweat unnoticeable due to the rain slapping them from all directions.

Groggily, Ganondorf pointed the white sword in front of him and charged Pit, who barely managed to raise his own blades in defense. A sickening clash filled the stormy air, and the two men were locked in a battle of strength.

Gritting his teeth, Pit tried valiantly to push against his opponent, but the Gerudo was too strong and threw him aside easily.

As he slid across the rough gravel that made the roof, Pit could feel the cuts, scratches, and bruises that were already forming on his back. With an angry bang, his head smacked against the rooftop support and he just laid there, spinning and trying not to vomit.

An urge that was easily resisted at the moment a sword was mere inches away from his delicate throat.

"_The Triforce of Courage… Give it to me. _Now!"

"I-I… can't," Pit mumbled against the weather. "Gotta ge' Link back for me…"

"Fine then!" the King exclaimed in that returning cheerful tone. "Killing you will fill me with so much delight! Don't forget arousal…" he added in that low, slurring tone.

Odd as it was, Pit could actually trace the raindrops that fell from the tip of the sword and onto his nose against all of the other ones as the multiple-personality possessive Ganondorf held his weapon high, prepared to deliver the death blow.

"No!"

In a fashion that all three present had experienced a mere two or three days prior, a projectile from the Hero's Bow sailed through the air and struck the assailant again, this time in the leg.

"_Damn you, Goddesses! What became of Ike?!_" Angrily, he removed it from his walking appendage with ease and glared at Toon Link, who, unlike before, was being supported by his princess.

"What are we to do now?" Sadness asked gravely, inside of Ganondorf's head, where the delusional Gerudo was still kneeled on the invisible flooring, trembling and sobbing. "The 'heroes' of this story have arrived, it seems."

"_We eliminated them, of course. In their already weakened state, they are in no condition to battle_."

"Are you willing to bet?" Zelda inquired, seemingly out of the grey.

"_Damn it! The bitch is telepathic!_"

"I am _not _a bitch," she replied somewhat indignantly. "But Toony and I are in better shape than you might think."

"Oh, hush up," Cheerful Ganondorf said with a smile and dashed at them.

"Twice in the same night," Toon Link groaned as he and Zelda separated and threw themselves in separate directions.

"_I already have both of your Triforces!" _Power bluffed bravely. "_All I have to do now is kill y—"_

The flames of Zelda's power suddenly exploded in his hand, causing a high-pitched, yet somehow low-strung, wail of agony as his sword fell to the ground with a defeated _clank_!

"They did not lie," Sadness mourned, pacing casually. "They are not weak."

"Shush up, sexy fool," Lust interjected. "The girl can read minds."

"_Not if she is not paying any attention!_"

Through his injured hand, he sent a burst of completely unexpected dark energy flying at the princess.

"Unh!" she cried as she stumbled backwards, gripping the ledge for support as she collapsed against it.

The wound was not serious, but it would distract her long enough.

"_We must take out the boy while she is incapacitated."_

"Please. Allow me," Sadness offered.

"_But… you are disapproving."_

"…What else can I do?"

Ganondorf's face took on the same mournful expression his inner demon possessed, and he strode towards the Hero in green, not bothering to obtain his sword as he passed it by, glowing as it was coated in a thin film of water.

"Toon Link," he moaned. "You… you feel a great love for someone, yes?"

Toony gulped, instinctively backing away from his old enemy. He was no doubt referring to Wolf… but how did he know? Had he been that obvious?

"You can never be with him, you know," Ganondorf continued, moving closer. "He'll never give you a second glance as more than an annoyance."

"N-no…" The effect of their 'talk' was having the desired effect on the poor Hero of Winds, as he approached closer to where his princess was unconscious and struggling to breath. "He… he cares about me. We spend lots of time together…"

"Pity," Sadness reprimanded him. "The foolish anthrop pities you. As far as he's concerned, you're nothing more than a stupid child who doesn't know what's important—"

"Hey, asshole!"

A shot rang through the air, which resulted in Ganondorf clutching his chest and wincing as he staggered slightly, before dropping to a knee.

Star Wolf's former commander lowered his still-smoking blaster, eye narrowed in muted rage.

"I can speak for myself."

"Wolf!" Toon Link cried happily, rushing to him and throwing his arms around Wolf's furry body, despite Fox and Falco, who were standing behind him looking marginally confused.

The gray-haired lupine kneeled down and hugged his friend back, accidentally breathing in the boy's scent and smiling. Remembering the situation, he pulled back and glared fiercely, and fired the obligatory firestorm of questions, fur already dripping with excess water.

"Are you okay? What's happened? Where is everyone else?"

Toon Link shuddered while inhaling some harsh air. "I-I'm okay, now. Pit… he cut off my hand and stole the T-triforce, and…"

"Whoa, whoa… Pit did what?!" Falco cried, looking over at Pit, whose eyes were wide with fear and was trying crawl away.

"We… think that Ganondorf did it to Zelda. When she and I got up here, they were fighting…" He pointed to the blonde girl a few feet away. "She's unconscious… Please, somebody save her. I can't let another Zelda die here, like this!" Crying, he buried his face in Wolf's soaked jacket.

"Sh, it is _okay_, it is _okay_, Toony, she's gonna be fine." Wolf gave a panicked gesture with a swivel of his head to Fox, who just nodded and trotted over to Zelda.

"_We've had just about enough of this_!" The Gerudo had risen again. Wolf spread his arms protectively in front of Toon Link, staring him down. "_We will have what we have striven for_! Heehaw, all of you are just getting in the way! Why would you do that to us? That doesn't make us too _happy_."

"What's this 'we' bullshit?" Falco grumbled to himself.

Before the furry pilot could say 'Triforce,' the enemy had dashed right past of him and was set for Pit, and the Triforce of Courage.

"No, you don't!" Falco called, and whipped out his own firearm. A thin, blue laser, streaked through the dark and stormy night and struck him within Toon Link's arrow wound, followed by another to his backside, rendering him too injured to move anymore.

Just then, Link managed to stumble onto the scene and was instantly drenched, waving apologetically to the Star Fox crew.

"Thanks a lot, you guys. What's the situation?"

"That," Fox said, not looking up from treating Zelda as he gestured to where Ganondorf was spilled on the ground.

Without looking at anyone else, Link carefully drew the Master Sword from its sheath. He quietly began stepping towards his fallen lover, ignoring the slightly blood-curdling _squelch _his boots made on the wet ground.

Reaching the King's body, he bent down and lightly touched him. "G…Ganondorf? It's me, Link. Are you… are you okay?"

"L-Link…" Ganondorf looked up at him with those cloudy, distant eyes. "Thank Din… these monsters attacked me up here. They've been torturing me. I'm so glad you've come. You can save me from these lunatics."

Link's blonde 'brows furrowed instantly. "Gan… you know that's a lie. What's come over you? You shouldn't be doing this. You… you promised me you changed…" He turned away, not able to look at him any longer.

"You promised you changed."

His statement was chased down by a hand wrapping itself around his throat, and squeezing for all of its worth. Link turned blue instantly, struggling with all of his might against the hand and gasping for what little air he could obtain.

"Link!" Wolf cried. "Somebody fucking do something! He's gonna suffocate him!"

The lusty personality of the Gerudo filled Link's fading eardrums. "You know, it's too bad you couldn't have followed me along on this. But I knew you wouldn't understand. We could have ruled together, and fucked every night, you and I. I guess that's too much to ask of a boyfriend!"

"Hen…hen…hen…bastard…hen," Link gasped, trying desperately to acquire more air.

Falco's blaster gave an unresponsive clicking sound. No more ammunition.

"Fuck!" Falco cursed. "Right bloody wonderful time to run of out my goddamn diffusers, damn it!"

Throwing it aside, Falco dashed, praying he would catch them in time.

But there was no need.

Ganondorf's eyes went wide with the most pain anyone there had experienced the entire night.

_Blearg! Grissshhh! Kerin!_

These were the extremely uncomfortable sounds of Link's would-be killer having two twin blades forged by the goddess of Angel Land being shoved through his stomach to the other side.

"Urrrnnahhhhhh!" Ganondorf screamed, throwing his hands into the air like he was a performer in a low-budget action film.

His unconscious body slid off of the blades in seconds, landing on the ground with a heavy thump.

Rain continued to fall, pattering everyone there and blanketing the heavy silence that followed.

Wordlessly, Pit reached into Ganondorf's pocket and pulled out a piece of skin with a mark in the shape of three triangles arranged together.

It was the most sickening thing most people had ever seen.

"Oh, my god," Wolf whispered, his words being carried away by the storm. No one needed to hear it, however, as they were all thinking it.

"You did do it," was all Link had to say, looking down at the man whose unresponsive head was lying in his lap. "You did it… you did it… you did it…" He shuffled away from Ganondorf, leaving him to rest on the asphalt pillow of the rooftop.

"Step back," Pit instructed darkly, as he pulled his feet to a rest next to Ganondorf's body, bending over. "Nobody come any closer."

Link cautiously stood, and tried to disobey the order and inch closer to the tainted angel. "Pit… I don't fully understand what is going on, but you saved us. Thank you…"

"_Get… back… this instant,_" Pit's voice now came out as a hiss, one that brought the promise of destruction and death with it.

Not wanting to provoke him any further, Link quickly scrambled backward, falling into place next to his alternate self, accompanied by Wolf O'Donnell.

As if they had been lovers, Pit pushed one small finger through his hair, and whispered something into his ear no one else could hear.

No one of course, except for Fox.

"_This might hurt in the morning, Ganon, you heartbreaker_." The confession sounded almost playful, teasing even. Pit's fingers retracted themselves from the Gerudo's hair and pockets as he clenched the desired object in his hand.

Any playfulness or teasing vanished instantly when one of Pit's swords was shoved deep into the back of Ganondorf's hand without remorse.

Toon Link screamed and clasped a horrified hand over his mouth, which hung agape behind it. Wolf moved into a similar position, only to hold back the bile that was gurgling in his throat. The Hero of Twilight just allowed his jaw to hit the floor, and Fox cringed as blood splattered onto Pit's face and toga from the fresh cut.

The Smashers could only watch in disgusted fascination as Pit slowly dragged his blade in a rough circle around the Triforce of Power, mumbling and grunting as he did so. Tendons could be heard slicing under the skin, and Pit's toga soon became a canvas decorated like a white pizza.

Blood dripped copiously from Palutena's Bow as he finally pulled it out, having made a rough-and-ready line encompassing the artifact.

Toon Link just covered his eyes and shivered against his alter-ego as Pit forcefully ripped the skin right out of his hand, dangling his prize with a morbid smile in the air.

Fox took a step towards him, but instantly drew back and the wild retaliation from the black-hearted, winged boy.

"_I said STAY BACK_!" he shouted, flinging blood from the golden sword onto Fox's face as he did so. Fox just froze, eyes closed, trying to maintain his sanity and consciousness for the time being.

Even Falco's arms around his waist couldn't soothe his raging nerves and Pit stepped even farther away from all of them.

Link immediately rushed towards the fallen Ganondorf and collapsed at his side, already poised to cry.

"Please… please, be okay. I love you so much… please don't leave me… please…" He pressed his warm lips to Ganondorf's unfeeling ones, relishing the warmth that his body had aside from the rain.

Pit was shocked, and one of his sandals hung in the air at the sight.

"Link…"

The addressee looked up at the assailant, eyes red from tears.

"Link… he hurt Zelda… he hurt you… he tried to hurt me… How you can you still love him after everything he's done?"

Link just laughed bitterly, pulling the leather-clad Gerudo closer to him and whispering, "Something's wrong with him. I don't know what's happened. But he needs me." His eyes downcast themselves to his calm facial features. "I'd do anything to help him."

Eyes wide, Pit dropped his foot to the ground fiercely and reciprocated the angry laughter. "Not for long you won't. I'll see to it personally."

Standing as far away from the 'congregation' as he could, he unceremoniously tossed the sacred flesh to the ground.

It formed in a perfect triangle.

Power at the top.

Wisdom to the bottom-left.

Courage rounding off the triangle at the bottom-right.

All eyes were on the arrangement as it began to glow with a light that trumped the storm above. Rain trickled in an important manner down everyone's faces and bodies, reveling in the hushed silence of them all.

Link gave a strangled sob as the three pieces of the Triforce came together and formed the sacred artifact itself.

There was no blinding flash of light, nor was there an incessant whining chime that lingered in the night as the Triforce floated there. It just sat there, unmoving, as if to say, 'Well, is someone going to make a wish on me or not?'

Pit was standing next to it in a heartbeat. His brown eyes stared at Link as clutched Ganondorf tightly. He bared his teeth in a frightening smile.

"Link will love _me_, again."

Almost reverently, Pit laid a hand of the right triangle, the one of Courage, for emphasis on his wish.

"O Great Triforce," Pit spoke his wish aloud for all to hear. "I wish for…" The brunette angel looked at Link again. He was holding Ganondorf's body close, eyes wide with fear, and streaks on his face from crying. His bold, blue eyes looked lonely and defenseless against the situation.

Fox and Falco were holding each other tightly, and Wolf had a protective hand on Toon Link's shoulder. They were all staring at him, waiting for him to do the wrong thing.

"Damn it," Pit whispered to the floor. "Why did my conscience have to kick in _now_?"

He knew that if he wished for Link's love to be back in his hands, it would be there, but he wouldn't really _have _it.

Link and Pit would walk the Smash mansion together, holding hands, kissing, and saying more 'I love you's than any human being could stand, but the whole while, Link wouldn't look at him when he said he loved Pit. He wouldn't really mean it, but there would be nothing that could be done about it.

This was it. The time to do the right thing for a change was now.

Pit loved Link with all of his heart, and even though Link would never _truly _love him back, he had to let him go. Palutena's angel had to save the man he loved, whether it involved him or not.

With the same docile expression he had on earlier, he touched the Triforce again.

"O Great Triforce, I wish… that Ganondorf's mind be cast free of the shadows and doubts that cloud it, for him to be himself again. I wish that when I am through, each of your three pieces can return to their respective carriers, whom I wish would take the time out to find in their own hearts to forgive me for the travesties I have performed today."

Everyone took a few steps back, even Link, still holding Ganondorf on the floor, as the Triforce began to glow. A soft, inviting wash of light cascaded itself over Ganondorf's body, and Link released him as he floated into the air.

"_What is going on?_" the voice of Power cried. "_What is happening?_"

The true King of the Gerudo stood, and gave his cape a powerful swipe, and smiled broadly.

"You aren't in control anymore. I'm taking my body back."

Sadness stepped forward, wrapped tightly in his cape. "The day of judgment has come. Our sins will be punished."

Before Happiness and Lust could throw their two cents in, they vanished in a puff of purple smoke, Power and Sadness included.

Ganondorf was alone in his own head, the way it was supposed to be.

His eyes flew open as the Triforce of Power nestled itself within him again, now freed of the dark bonds of evil. Zelda had a similar reaction to the return of the Triforce of Wisdom. Toon Link laughed delightedly as the mark of the carrier reappeared on the back of his left hand.

Pit sank to his knees on the wet ground, relinquishing his weapon and planting his hands between his knees. "Everyone… I'm so sorry."

'Everyone' just stared at him, unsure what to say in response to his apology. Link, however, had more pressing issues at the moment.

"G…Gan?" He asked quietly. "Is that you?"

Showing off his pearly whites in a toothy grin, the Gerudo said, "You know it, baby." He wrapped his hand around to the back of Link's head and pulled him down into a rough kiss that the Hero made no move to stop.

"Hey, does this mean we can make out, too?" Fox asked quietly.

"Nope," Falco replied, sounding somewhat dejected, "This is their moment, not ours." His feather hand brushed Fox's rear end lightly. "Later, though. You can count on that."

Suddenly, the sounds of a lone figure clapping could be heard, joined by another, and then two more, before the rest of the Smashers were standing on the roof clapping.

"Hooray-a!" Mario cried. "Let's-a have a TEA PARTY-a! I-a saved everyone-a!"

"Ugh," Luigi groaned through his clapping. "Put on the doctor's uniform and shut up."

All eyes were trained on the red-capped plumber in confusion.

"You… you didn't save anybody. You couldn't even save your own mental state of being."

"I LIKE-A CHICKEN-A!"


	20. Epilogue I: Pit and the Fake Memories

**Crystal Nothings II: My Wings Angle Down – Fallen Lithium**

I've never been to this part of the infirmary before. When they pushed me through the door, I could read a dusty wooden sign above the door that read "Psyche Ward."

Psyche Ward?

Does that mean that I'm crazy? I never really thought I was crazy, though I respect their logic in assuming such a thing.

Judging by the room's dusty, unpolished state, I could tell no one has ever been in here before. Compared to its previous emptiness, the two people that now rest inside it make it seem like a bustling office building.

It's just as bleak and desolate inside of the Psyche Ward as it is in the rest of the infirmary. The walls are a dull, unpainted white colour that seriously disturbs me to have to stare at. Various medical machines that I fear I'll never understand line the walls, several of them have wires and strings taped both to my own body and that of my companion in the room. Pencils attached to robotic arms record our mental state of being, as well as the computers that produce various green readings of little significance to me.

I don't want to be here. I want to be with Link, like I strived so hard to do.

It was in my grasp. I could have done it, the Hero was as good as mine… but, as I was about to touch the wish-giving Triforce, and will the pain away, I stopped at looked at him. He looked as though he was going to cry, holding Ganondorf tightly to him as if he was the only thing keeping him alive. At the very sight, guilt and regret rushed through me, and I lost my ability to exact my revenge, to take back exactly what I knew to be mine.

I am an angel, an angel sent down by the Goddess Palutena -- she who has the kindest heart in all of the universe. Conscience is a burden I know will always have to bear. It is a shame it couldn't have saved me sooner.

Even as the captain of Her guard, I cannot be sure what Palutena will do to me upon my return to Angel Land. Exile, presumably. Maybe I should just never go back...

Perhaps, though, thanks to my good deed at the end, maybe my soul can be saved.

In the end, I could not bring myself to cause harm to another, no matter how much they have harmed me.

I steal a lazy glance at Ganondorf on the bed across and two seats to the left of my own. He's looking grumpy and irritated, which is no surprise to me. He claims continually that he isn't crazy. Something about his emotions spinning out of control and possessing his mind.

Stranger things have happened here, so it doesn't sound so far-fetched.

Dr. Mario, the psychotic plumber who is completely sane while in uniform, wants to keep us both here for a while, and monitor our mental states. Ganondorf seems to be doing just fine. I'm not so sure about myself.

Ever since what I've heard the other Smashers dub as "The Incident II," people say I've become quiet, mentally secluded, and depressed. Princess Peach went so far as to say I'd lost my exuberance and lust for life. I suppose she is right. I haven't spoken a single word since they stuck me in here.

My wings feel cramped against the lumpy bed. I struggle valiantly, but can't find a comfortable position.

Wonderful, another torture I must suffer through.

I am uncomfortable, lonely, and hungry.

Alas, food sits at the foot of my bed, but I cannot bring myself to eat it. Uncertainty as to whether or not I deserve it seems to overtake me.

I look up hopefully as the door opens. A ghost of a smile traces my lips at the possible thought of Dr. Mario coming to release me from my minimum-security prison.

The Hero of Twilight shuts the door carefully behind him, as he does every single day since we've been here. His watery blue eyes flicker over me for a moment before he stalks to Ganondorf's bed, looking significantly more uncomfortable than I feel, just as he does each day.

Purposely, I turn my gaze out the window, even though I can't see anything from my angle, to allow them to talk. Their voices never escalate above a whisper, so I have no idea what they're saying.

I give up on my conquest for staring outside and peek from behind a furled wing at the not-so-happy couple. The Gerudo man is clutching my Link's hand, murmuring something, his own eyes threatening to spill tears.

My throat closes up as they embrace tightly, Ganondorf stroking Link's back gently. Turning away, I know I cannot bear to watch them anymore.

"I believe you."

Link's voice briefly draws me from my makeshift hiding place, and I look at them again even though I just a moment ago thought I could not.

I believe him as well, even though I don't want to. It hurts to believe.

Grunting quietly, Ganondorf pulls away from my lover and reaches into a drawer, pulling out a bottle of medication. My wings shudder painfully as they kiss each other, however brief it is, and he dry swallows one of his pills afterwards.

I know what they are, and what they do. They are painkillers, specially formulated by the good doctor. Every time he takes them he is knocked out cold immediately after. The pills are just that powerful.

As he drifts off to sleep, Link just sits and stares at him for a while, running a hand through his hair and murmuring to himself. In response, I shifted subtly and played with my own brown locks and fingering the crown I always adorned.

Mind-blowing sex, having wine together next to the fireplace, resting against each other on movie nights... Why would Link throw all of that away for a gruff villain? What did I do? Whatever it was, there is no way I can correct now.

I have made too many mistakes at this point.

Link stands, and I assume, as usual, that he's going to leave and go do whatever it is broken-hearted heroes do. But he doesn't.

For a long time, he just stands there, staring at the floor and fiddling with a loose thread on his tunic. I can hear the deep breaths he is taking, as though to calm himself.

What is he doing? This is most certainly a break in routine. The little spark of hope that I had lost earlier re-ignites, thinking that in some dramatic, yet somehow anti-climatic way, he's remembering everything.

I can't help but watch the way his brown-blonde locks sway as he finally turns around, and he's looking right at me, and I suddenly can't breath, and I'm staring back at him... and oh, Palutena how I want him to kiss me like he used to me.

Link is at the foot of my bed now, scuffing his boot against the floor. I'm upset that he's not looking at me anymore. Why won't he look at me?

"Do you remember the morning after during the last Brawl... before Zelda and Samus died?"

My voice comes out as a hoarse croak from not talking for so long. "...M-morning after what?"

"You and I... w-we did it... and... you ripped your toga, and you had to run from my room to yours, and a whole bunch of people saw you..." He was smiling sadly now, eyes wrinkling like paper.

My heart sunk down into my liver.

He doesn't remember it himself. I can tell by the way he's retelling the tale. Something has obviously been telling him.

I remember it, though. I was so happy. Every morning I woke up next to him and I wanted to dance among the clouds naked.

Not for the first time, right Pit ol' buddy?

"Or the time you got drunk, and thought Snake was flirting with me, and you got all offended?" I can only feel my life-giving organ slipping deeper into my bowels as he tries to force that plastic smile wider. "Boy, how wrong _you _were, huh?"

Don't say anything, I tell myself. And I don't, just stare at him.

That mask he's wearing, its beginning to crumble. It's so easy to see, like reading a book, or an Ikea catalogue. He's trying like a Hero to hold it up though, and he continues to babble.

"I-I'm sorry we broke up, Pit, but I wanted to explore my horizons, you know. It's not like we were committed, or anything..."

_Aha_.

If my throat wasn't so scratchy and dehydrated, that's what I would say.

There was my proof that he didn't truly remember. Guess his informant left that part out.

I would also say: _We _were _committed, you bastard. I gave you Crystal Nothings, and you accepted them, you tore me apart, stomped on me again and again, completely betrayed me..._

Without the nourishment to truly talk, I just stare at him longer.

"That gives you no right to do what you did..." he adds, not looking at me again, this time directing his vision out of the windows. He's probably getting a better view than I did.

That, you're right about. Go on down to the kitchen and get yourself a cookie, asshole.

When he sees that I'm not going to dignify his statements with a (vocal) response, he just nods in a tacturn manner and rushes out, not casting another look back at me.

What the hell was that?

I feel like a falsely accused criminal, being interrogated by the police for a crime I didn't commit.

Alright, I know I _did _commit the crime... damn, so much for that analogy.

I cast Ganondorf a malicious stare that he couldn't see, and manage to croak out my last words for the day.

_You are one lucky sonofabitch_.

Palutena will give me hell for this one, that's for sure.

Various Smashers come in and out of the room throughout the evening. Some yell, some throw things, some sympathize, and some, out of anger, force me to play this idiotic game called _Kid Icarus II: Of Myths and Monsters_ on a decreipt old Game Boy, about some stupid angel, who ironically has the same name as me, and hunts down demons in the name of some Goddess I didn't care to pay attention to. I wonder if the first one is just as bad.

Vaguely, I wonder if it supposed to _be _me, but that's impossible. There's no technology where I come from.

Most people are just so stupid.

* * *

Dr. Mario is back, but he's not here to free me. He's inspecting every inch of me very meticulously, every now and then scirbbling something in unreadable handwriting on a medical chart. I so badly want to rip all of this machinery off of me, but I can't. So I just lay back and fidget while he examines me, half-expecting him to tell me to bend over for a prostate exam.

Ganondorf is awake, and he's watching the doctor run his tests, knowing that he is next.

Whilst trying to figure out what Dr. Mario was trying to accomplish by hitting my knee with a tiny hammer, I let my eyes wander to the moon, and let menial thoughts drift away like topsoil during a heavy rainstorm.

Geez, where do I come up with these atrocious analogies?

Haha, the word 'analogy' has the word 'anal' inside of it.

Teehee... 'inside of it.'

Goddess, I am so screwed up. Or maybe I'm just losing my mind from being cooped up inside of here. Whichever it is, it does _not _make me feel any better about my situation.

I realize that I must have been giggling aloud when I catch Mario giving me a strange look. Pfft, he's not one to stare at others in such a way, given his eccentric behaviour outside of that white coat and stethoscope.

I barely manage to fight down the temptation to eat his clipboard as he writes something else on it, somehow keeping one eye on me the entire time.

Will I ever get out of here? I just want to go home.


	21. Epilogue II: The Fox Hunts the Wolf

Crystal Nothings II: My Wings Angle Down – Fallen Lithium

**Crystal Nothings II: My Wings Angle Down – Fallen Lithium**

I've been chasing this kid around the house for after two hours, and my breath is starting to hitch. All those teenage years I spent smoking are starting to catch up with me. I'm almost thirty, damn it. I don't need this now.

If the higher power really does exist, why did He or She give pre-pubescent fourteen year old boys such energy? It's not fair. He's been giggling wildly the entire time and throwing snide remarks over his tiny shoulders.

It's been so long, I don't remember what game we were supposed to be playing, nor do I know how I let him talk me into it.

Our chase has taken us into the living room, where Fox and Falco are chatting amiably about something over at the coffee table, with steaming mugs of said beverage sitting in front of them. It reminds me of all of those times I spent with this little whelp on the balcony, and it brings I smile to my exhaustion-flushed face. The happy couple both whirl their heads around at the sight of me, and their mouths (...err, beaks - whatever) snap shut and their eyes widen in surprise.

I decide to ignore it for now, as I have a more pressing issue at hand. I bend my legs in preparation for my oh-so-dazzling Wolf Flash move, still running to try and keep up. I'm planning a tackle on the kid from behind.

After it's already too late, I can feel one of my boots bang into that disgusting pink chesterfield that Peach insisted on having put into the living room. Seriously, I wish people would do a commentary on this thing. It's hot pink, has daisies all over it, and... I think there's mold growing on its underside. It doesn't even match the deep brown leather couches. Can you picture that? Brown leather couches with a random pink, daisy-covered chesterfield sitting between the recliner and the TV?

At any rate, I trip over this damn thing and fall face-first into the plush rug.

I could have gotten up instantly if I wanted to, but an evil idea enters my mind and I just lay there, immediately blocking off my air circulation, so I am completely still.

"...Wolf?"

Not moving, I'm sniggering into the carpet. I'm going to make this kid jump right out of his little green tunic... wait, was that weird?

"Wolf?!"

I open my good eye carefully, if only for an instant, and sneak a peek at Fox and Falco. The bird is grinning at me, and I attempt my best _keep-your-mouth-shut _look before going back to playing dead.

"Wolf?! Wolf, come on, wake up!"

He's shaking me now, and screaming in my ears. Instinct tells me to fold them back, but I restrain the urge. His voice is beginning to shake, and I can already tell he's about to cry.

"Wolf... please goddesses, I'm so sorry..."

I took my moment then. A strangled cry escapes both of our throats as I suddenly leap into the air with the kid in my arms. With the force of an atomic bomb, we hit the loveseat with a soft _boom_! Damn two-seater couches...

Mumbling, Toony struggles out of my vice grip and gasps dramatically as he resurfaces, sucking air into his young, untainted lungs.

I'm laughing uncontrollably now, hugging my stomach and kicking my legs like a child, tears of hilarity trailing down my face and making those highly unattractive lines in my fur.

"Don't _do _that, Wolf!?" Toony screams, dusting off his tunic. "You scared me so bad I almost peed myself!"

Still laughing, I wipe a stray tear away and sit up straight. "I know! That's why it was s-so f-funny!"

"It was _not_!"

A blinding flash of light strangles both my laughter and Toony's cries, as it nearly renders us both sightless. Toony, in particular, what with those massive cat eyes of his.

"Awwww," Fox coos from behind his digital camera. "Look at this adorable little couple having their first spat!"

Toon Link immediately goes red as one of Kirby's Maxim Tomatoes and I'm glaring daggers at my vulpine friend.

"Shut it, Fox. Or I'll give you a new hole for your bird-toy over there to shove his dick into."

Falco, who's munching away at a Pop Tart innocently, just gives me a little wave, a sign of acknowledgment that my insult was accepted.

Things have been... different since the three of us came back and Pit was... defeated, I suppose you could say. Link's at the infirmary every day. Just today he came back red-eyed, as though he was crying. I figure it isn't my business to interfere.

Fox and Falco have been more into each other than ever. Those two are always dashing off for their little private rendezvous, and they haven't had a single argument. Not to mention the fact that they are just, in overall terms, more pleasant to people. It's sickly-sweet. They shove food into the other's mouth at mealtimes. They cuddle up close together when they watch TV, and yes, they even have pet names for each other. Lucas has relayed to me the horror stories. I don't want to hear those names spoken aloud.

As for Toony and me... I don't really know what to say. I like the kid, hell, I even _love _the kid, but... damn, I just don't know. We hang out together all the time, weird as that might seem. Were you new here, you might think that I was some creeper who was just waiting for the right time to leap on him.

Well, I've leaped on him on more than one occasion. Not sexually though. I couldn't bring myself to do that.

But he wants me to, I _know _he does. The idea of being with someone thirteen years his senior must sound very appealing to someone who is just beginning to sexually mature.

I won't lie. Creepy it may be, were he at least nineteen... man... I can't even say it, but I'm pretty sure you know where I'm going with this confession.

Fox snaps me out of my reverie, still using that teasing voice that makes me want to punch him in the face and then stick a rectal thermometer in both of his eyes. Ah... he would probably enjoy that, the sadist.

"So, Wolf... have you two touched second base yet?"

Toony's blushing even harder now, and I can see that he's upset. That pisses me off. That _really _pisses me off.

"Fuck you, Fox. Get out of here," I hiss, not even bothering to tether down my middle finger.

Raising his hands in a defensive posture, Fox finally backs off, and rejoins his lover in whispered discussion at the coffee table. I try to push away the fact that they point at me every few seconds.

Trying to be comforting, I reach for my young friend's shoulder. "Toony, are you...?"

"'M sorry, Wolf... Uhm... we should... meet for coffee on the balcony in the morning... gottagobye!" he mumbles to me, and then dashes off. Poor kid must be really embarrassed.

With him out of the way, I focus my attention on Fox. "I hope you're happy, asshole. He's really embarrassed by your stupid little comments." I'm getting up to leave, yet somehow, Falco is latched to my arm before I can even move two steps towards the exit.

"Hey, hey, hey," Falco says gently, pulling me towards the table. "No need to be so hostile. Come and sit, and chat with us for a little while. Relax, take a load off."

I raise an eyebrow suspiciously. This birdbrain is acting a bit more eccentric then usual. Does it bother me? Yes, yes it does.

"Falco? Has Kirby been cooking for you again? Because if he has, the number for Poison Control is on the fridge..."

Falco shook his head, and smiled, though I caught the shudder that ran down his spine at the memory of Kirby's lack of culinary skills.

"No, don't be stupid. Just come sit and quit asking questions."

I finally recede my inquires and join them at the table. Fox is flipping through a little green notebook, frowning occasionally as he flips pages. Falco reaches down in front of him and grabs that damn piece of breakfast sugar and begins eating away at it in almost microscopic bites. Damn birds, there _is _such a thing as a _chunk_, rather than a nibble, you know?

If he had those beady little glasses that look like peas, Fox would almost look like a shrink as he sets his book on the table, folds his arms, leans back in his chair, and stares at me. Falco is doing likewise, except still eating the Pop Tart.

"Sooo... Wolf?" he asks politely. "How open-minded would you say you are?"

I'm surprised by both his abruptness and the oddity of the question. What kind of interrogation is this?

"Uhhh..." I murmur, searching for words. "I guess I'm pretty out there. Who gives a shit?"

Fox's eyes are beginning to cloud over strangely, and he makes no show of being subtle as his chair scrapes across the linoleum flooring, a little closer to me.

"Let me rephrase for my idiot boyfriend," Fox says, shooting Falco a disdainful look that makes the poor bird stare into his Pop Tart. "What he _wanted _to say was: How _sexually _open minded are you?"

Okay, if I had alarm bells literally built into my head, they would be ringing off of the hook right now. Something is definitely amiss here. If I didn't know any better... I'd say my vulpine friend was _flirting _with me.

My naiveté gets the best of me, unfortunately, and I say, "Err... that depends, I guess." I resist the temptation to raise my hackles in defense. Most modern animals of the Lylat System don't really have any of their ancestors' feral instincts, but I still do, hence my Grade A sense of smell.

Fox is staring at me again with those half-lidded eyes and that lazy smile...

Oh God, I'm already half-hard. Somebody needs to save me from this situation _now_.

...

Nobody?

Shit.

"Come with us," Fox says, pushing back his seat and beckoning me with an oh-so-tempting finger. Taking Falco's hand, he starts to walk away.

I stay rooted to my chair. There's no moving allowed. Not right now. They'll see how fucking _turned on _I am. Where's a _Playboy _when you need it? Half-naked women would be a massive help right about this _instant_.

As if on cue, Falcon saunters into the room, nose buried in said magazine. My ears perk up hopefully, but he's spotted us, and he's blushing insanely.

"P-please don't tell Gandrayda! I'm sexually repressed, okay?!" As soon as my savior shows up, he's gone.

I swear, if my life had a physical existence, I would crap all over it.

"Oh, Wolf," Fox scolds me as though I am a little schoolchild. "You didn't _listen_."

Without warning, both grinning Star Fox pilots are dragging me out of the room, my soldier standing straight up at attention. I don't even struggle, because it's obvious there's no point in trying. I don't know what they're going to do to me, but I'm scared witless...

...and _really fucking horny_.

I blink, and suddenly Fox has released one of my arms and is pushing the door open to his room. I want to run, but curiosity kills the wolf, as they say.

"I think its about time we had some _fun_," Falco smirks nastily. "Don't you think so Fox Apple?"

Fox Apple. There's one horrid pet name down, and I sincerely don't want to know what that means.

I'm standing up straight now, literally shaking in my boots. Fox is swaggering up to me, and his breath is at my ears.

"You know what the best part is?" he whispers to me. I don't respond, just stand stock-still and stare straight ahead.

The bastard, he'll answer his own question for me. "Falco and I haven't even had our make-up sex yet."

That does it, my shields have been destroyed, and I'm kissing him as hard as I can before I even half-realize what I'm doing. For the uninitiated, I've basically just been invited for a make-up sex three-way.

Good God, is there anything more arousing?

Falco's on me too, now, attacking my neck, and I'm trembling, even though I'm still locking lips with his boyfriend.

One of them is pawing my arousal… holy shit, where did my pants go? This is not good, this is not good…

Suddenly, I can feel myself being consumed by Fox's warm mouth, and it occurs to me that this is _so _damn good.

Fully dressed, I shut the door behind me as quietly as I can, putting in the effort to not alert anyone else to my presence in the hallway.

As I creep to my room, I can only think about how wrong that was, that I shouldn't have done it. But god damn, while it was on, did I ever enjoy it. What else does a guy say when his biggest fantasy as just been fulfilled.

I honestly don't know where that came from. I've had sex with Fox before. I've almost had sex with Falco, and now I just had sex with both of them at the same time.

I never thought that Fox McCloud was so adventurous, and it has got me confused as all hell.

This whole thing makes me think about Toony. I like the kid. I like him _so much_, and I am completely, one-hundred percent aware of how creepy, weird, or gross that is. No one has to tell me twice.

But he's so young. I just need the time to think things through and decide an appropriate course of action. Besides, I'm fairly sure my little threesome was a one-time deal. I decide that I should go to my favourite thinking place, the balcony.

And _fuck my luck _he's already here, green cap hovering slightly in the evening breeze. His short legs are dangling over the railing, and he's staring at that ball of fire we call the 'sun.'

"Hi, Wolf," he says, not even turning to look at me.

"…Hi," I reply nervously, unsure of what to say. Wordlessly, I opt for climbing up on the railing next to Toony, and join him in watching the sunset.

"Wolf…" he speaks up after a while, "… do you like me? And don't say, 'of course I do,' because you know what I mean."

I sigh quietly. I knew this would have to come up sometime. There would be no avoiding it forever. My sexual adventures of the previous two hours have completely left my mind. This needs dealing with.

"Link… I like you, a lot. You know that as well as I do, but…"

"I'm too young, right?"

I just nod, refusing to look at his very expressive, sad face.

"But…" he's shifted on the balcony, and his big eyes are set right on me. "I can be more mature, Wolf! I really can! I can be the kind of grown-up guy that you like! Just like Fox!"

Without the courage to look him in the eye, I turn the other way.

"Link, listen to me. You're fourteen years old, and I'm twenty-eight. That's not right, no matter how much I wish it were. You're just a kid. You have so much about life that you don't understand yet. There must be someone around here who's your age that you like, huh? What about Popo, or Ness? Lucas? Even Red, I'm pretty sure that guy walks on both sides of the street!"

Toony just shakes his head. "No, Lucas is totally into Tetra. Ness is a horn-dog. Popo is just… Popo. You're the only one I like, Wolf!"

With a lack of anything better to say, I can only ask, "Why?"

"Because you're amazing!" He's raising his voice now. "You're smart, funny, and you've been so nice to me ever since you got here! You always stick up for me… and, Wolf… you gave me my first kiss! No one would ever do that for me, Wolf! I won't even bring up how hot you are… well, I guess I just did, but you get it, don't you?"

Finally, I turn on the railing to face him. Toony's eyes are sparkling with tears.

"Everyone here just treats me like a kid, or even like a freak! Even Link does that! You talk to me like I'm a person, not just some little child with a magic conductor's baton…"

"You don't mean all of that…" I attempt, feeling my own voice choking up. Damn it, I can't do this now.

"Yes, I do!" Toony screams. "I wouldn't be saying any of it if I didn't!"

Unable to resist anymore, I grab him by the shoulders and pull him close. Instantly, he buries his face into my jacket and starts to cry. "Wolf, it just isn't fair…" he sobs gently. "Why does everything have to be so fucked up?!"

I'm taken aback by his swearing, but I hold him anyway and breathe in his strong scent through his hat.

"Link, can I tell you a secret?"

"Yeah…?"

"If you were at least nineteen, I swear that you and I would be rocking each other's worlds," I say honestly, still hugging him. "But I'm pushing you away right now because I care about you that much. You're still so young; I don't want to miss out on things because of me, okay? I don't want you to have to deal with the torture you would get from the others because of me…"

For a long time, he doesn't answer me, just continues to cry into my jacket, and before that long time, I'm crying too.

That's what we do. We just sit there and cry until the sun goes down.

I don't think I've ever been this emotional in my whole life.

Everything's working out wonderfully for Fox and Falco… Toony's right, it isn't fair. Why can't shit work for me, too?

Finally, he pulls his face away from my crushing embrace and he smiles weakly at me. "I-I… I understand, now, Wolf… thank you."

I pull him close again, and he says, "Thanks for being the best friend I've ever had."

Nodding, I hug him tighter, and I reply, "You don't ever have to worry about that. I'm always around to be your friend."


	22. Epilogue III: Link Dreams of Pavement

**Crystal Nothings II: My Wings Angle Down – Fallen Lithium**

I catch Wolf staring at me as I practically break into my own room, I whip the door open so hard. I think all my tears have been pretty much spent. The wells are dry, the buckets are empty, and however people want to say it.

I actually tried talking to Pit today. There were a couple of people who made me feel like I should. That's mostly why I'm crying so hard, and have been the last couple of days.

Their names were Princess Zelda and Samus Aran.

They came to me in a dream. I know how ridiculous it sounds, but it's completely true.

In my dream… Pit was dead. I was standing next to Ganondorf, just staring down at his dead body. Guilt was tearing through me like a freight car and I didn't know why.

I still don't really know why.

Anyway, we were just standing in that field, with the chrysantheums, and the amaranths, and the roses, all poking out of the ground so innocently... just staring at the dead angel that had imprinted himself among the flora. The bugs were crawling all over him already, drinking whatever blood was left, biting at him.

Were I awake, and that situation real, it is likely I would have puked myself dry, but in this dream, all I could do was stop and stare, kind of... unfeeling to the situation.

"Liiink..." Ganondorf whispered to me suddenly, but it didn't sound like he was standing right next to me. It sounded like... he was a million miles away. I turned to answer him, and he was chained to some wall a few feet away from me, eyes wide with fear.

No one could possibly understand what an odd image that was. A field of flowers, with a dead winged boy laying on the ground, and a green man chained to a tiny wall that looked like it belonged in the Hyrule Castle dungeons, not a garden.

That numb feeling was all-consuming. I just stared at my lover, while the decomposers ate away at Pit on the ground. I raised an eyebrow expectantly, knowing he was strong enough to break through those chains like they were licorice. What reason did I have to be worried?

Blushing, he lowered his head, clearly embarrassed. "I-I can't..." he stammers. "I just can't."

If I wasn't dreaming, and having that numb feeling in the pit of my belly, I might have jumped ten feet in the air when a hand fell onto my shoulder. It was very gentle and unassuming. Unlike the harsh grip of the man I once called my mortal foe, the hand seemed to almost caress me with its touch.

Still holding on to me, Zelda slowly seems to pilhouette around my body. Dramatically, she stopped just in front of me, boring her eyes into Ganondorf, who was still staring at the ground, still red.

Her braids sway with the wind as she turned to me, framing her face in a way that was most elegant. The look she's giving me... it is not affection, or friendship, or contentment - the looks she always gives me. She's looking at me with pity, grief, and just a _smidgen _of dissappointment.

I tried to open my mouth to talk, but my throat instantly contricted as if it were reflex. I want Zelda to stop giving me that look. More importantly, I want to know _why_. What did I do to upset the dead?

"Man, you really fucked up this time, Mr. Hero-of-Twilight."

I'd recognized that malicious voice any day. Samus moves around me in a similar fashion to the princess, except she doesn't touch me. I wasn't surprised to see that she was decked out in full body armor, Power Suit gleaming in the light of the dreaming sun.

"I mean, seriously," she continued, "I've done some stupid shit in my time, but you really take the cake, my good fellow."

I still can't find words, so I traced Samus's movements with my eyes. For some reason, I felt like I should resent her, but I couldn't place it. That's a pretty disturbing feeling.

For the first time since I fell asleep, Zelda spoke.

"All of this was your fault, Link."

If the capacity to move and feel basic emotions hadn't left me, my jaw would've hit the grass. 'Zelda... _Zelda_, of all people, just accused me of something?'

"I'm not accusing you of anything, Link. I'm giving you the facts."

'She's being so brutal and cold. What is wrong with my princess?'

"Death gives you a less sympathetic outlook on life," Zelda informed me with a sigh.

'Damn it. Stop reading my mind.'

"She's right though," Samus interjected, strolling casually over to where my Ganondorf was chained. Samus began scratching his chin like he was a dog... or Fox. My Gerudo King doesn't even flinch at her steel touch. "You made all of this happen."

'Why? What did I do? What did I cause?'

"Toon Link's hatred for you, Pit's attack on him, Ganondorf's attack on the other Zelda..." Samus ran down the list, still scratching Ganondorf's chin. "...Ganondorf's loss of control over his emotions... you did all of it."

I could feel my heart and feelings returning to me slowly, but I still couldn't even lift my pinky finger or scuff a boot against the grass. All of this is just so _frustrating_!

'That doesn't make any sense to me! Somebody start talking and tell me how this is all my fault!'

For a while, both of the women were silent. Zelda just staring at Pit's slowly decomposing remains and Samus scratching Ganondorf's chin. Her steel fingers made a _scritch, scritch_ sound against his peach fuzz that I'd been bugging him to shave just a few days ago.

"You and Pit were in love," Zelda said simply, though out of the blue it was.

'...What?'

"It's true," Samus put in. "I saw it first hand."

'So... all of those times he tried to tell me we dated, and I didn't listen..."

"Yep!" Samus agreed. "You didn't just date though, you two were totally meant for each other."

"Oh..."

"He gave you Crystal Nothings, Link," said Zelda sadly. "Right after Samus tried to have sexual relations with you."

"Uh-huh. You were so pissed at me. Pit walked in, and he thought we were actually doing it. He had flowers and champagne and stuff for you... You abandoned me in your room and chased him into the courtyard while it was storming outside... That's how much you loved him."

I was having a really hard time taking all of this information in at once. And the more they gave me, the more difficult it became to organize all of it.

"He gave you Crystal Nothings," Zelda repeated, as though it were some weird mantra. "He gave you Crystal Nothings..."

'P-pit did that... for me?'

"My dark side, born from a poisonous substance called Phazon, attacked us at the mansion," Samus moved on with the story. "Zelda, Pit, and I managed to defeat her, but it came at the cost of my life, her life, and Pit's consciousness. He fell into a coma."

Obviously I knew about the coma... but the circumstances about which it came were starting to become more clear.

"There was no more Phazon left in the universe. I destroyed it."

At this point, Samus had her helmet in the crook of her arm and is using her powerful glare to her advantage while she lets her blond ponytail unfold down her back. "She came to us to feed off of our powerful emotions. Grief, love, anger, betrayal. We were a feeding frenzy of pain."

"While Pit was in his coma," Zelda took over, "you kissed _him_." Angrily, she thrusts her arm at Ganondorf in a point. "You betrayed Pit in its highest form. You broke the bond of the Crystal Nothings."

I had nothing to say. What could I say? I knew what the consequences of breaking such a treaty were, and I had done it anyway.

Out of nowhere, my knees felt weak and I collapsed to the ground. The tightness in my throat vanished and I felt that I could speak again.

"You..." I hissed to Ganondorf, still chained. "You knew? And you still let me do it?"

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." he was whispering, shaking against his bonds. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."

"No!" I shouted, standing up again. "You can't just say you're _sorry_! You knew how much he meant to me! You should have done something to stop me!"

I was beginning to shake, and the buckets were re-filling. "How... how could you do that?"

"If it makes you feel better," Samus interuppted. "Ganondorf went insane with grief, and lost control of his emotions, which is why the Triforce of Power consumed his heart and caused him to attack the other Zelda."

"I-It's true!" Ganondorf agreed, nodding vigorously, despite still facing the ground, hanging limply off of the chains. "It tore me up inside!"

"Bastard," I spat.

"And Pi--"

"_No!!_" I screamed, glaring at Zelda. "I know the rest of this story! I made Pit crazy! It's all my fucking fault..." My voice died down and I slumped into the grass. "I ruined him."

Now, I know everything. I tried to make it better, I really did. The memories are _there_, but I am not connected to them, and I know I have no one to blame for this but myself. How could I betray someone like that... Someone I was supposed to love with all of my heart?

I remember when Pit was asking me about the shattered Crystal Nothings he had. If only I had known he was talking about me... What would I have said? 'Oh, sorry about breaking your heart and completely betraying you while you were laying nearly dead in the infirmary, but I got bored of you!'?

What was I thinking?

I broke up with Ganondorf. I figured that was the best way to fix this broken situation. I was right to do it, wasn't I? I think I was...

...wasn't I?

He told me he understood, that I had to do what I had to do, but one doesn't have to be a psychic to see the hurt and resentment in his eyes. It made want to hold him. _Bad_. But I had to make sure the job was done and seal the deal, no matter how hurt either of us was by it.

I hear a knock at the door. Who could it be? I thought I must be the latest social pariah of the mansion by now.

Without waiting for me to answer, a mop of blue hair pokes its way into my room.

"Ike?" I ask. "What are _you _doing here?"

"I-I heard you crying," he stammers, stepping inside and closing the door. "I wanted to make sure you were feelin' alright."

"Oh..." Hastily, I wipe my tears away and sniffle.

Tentatively, he moves closer and sits on the edge of my bed, looking at me almost expectantly.

"No, no," I tell him, attempting a smile, "I'm fine."

He doesn't believe me, I can tell by the look on his face. The look that says, 'you're totally lying, and I'm going to get to the bottom of it.' That look is my enemy today.

"Why are you here, anyway?" I ask, turning the situation around on him. "I thought you were against 'my kind' as you would say."

My ploy works. Ike instantly looks away from me, seeming very guilty.

"I-I was," he murmurs. "But, I'm not like that anymore."

My skepticism gets the best of me. "Why the sudden change of heart?"

Ike runs a hand through his blue hair as he prepares his explanation. "Well..."

"_Well_?"

"It was the day of some match, I don't remember who was fighting... but, that day I saw Fox and Falco and Sonic and Mewtwo together, and I just thought to myself, 'What right do I have to intrude on that?'"

It's my turn to give him the 'you're totally lying, and I'm going to get to the bottom of it,' look.

"No, seriously!" He cries defensively, catching my disbelief. "I wouldn't lie. I'm still not completely comfortable with the whole 'gay' thing, but... you guys aren't hurting me in any way, so why should I treat you that way?"

Ike has let his guard down. I can hear the sincerity in his voice. He really does mean well. I can't help but beam in his direction.

"Wow, Ike. That's really great of you!"

He grins. "So, are you gonna tell me what's wrong now?"

Goddesses. Blunette ass-wipe used his charm to break through my own defenses. I have strong defenses! This shouldn't even be an issue.

Ike is still smiling at me. Waiting, waiting for me to open up and pour my broken heart out to him. I don't know if I should. I want to, but I'm nervous about what he will say.

"Link..."

His gentle touch to my shoulder must be some kind of magic, because I break down instantly. Tears are screaming trails down my face and I'm sobbing uncontrollably.

He immediately pulls me close to him and I cry into his heartbeat.

"I... I did it!" I moan through my tears. "I ruined everything for Pit!"

"What are you talking about?" Ike asks me gently. "He made the choice to do the sick thing he did on his own. You can't blame yourself for that."

"No! I was in love with him. He committed himself to me, and I betrayed him, Ike! I took Ganondorf while he was in a coma!" Speaking my crime out loud only makes me cry even harder. "I can't remember even being with him! I made him crazy!"

I can barely hear Ike's voice around my sobs as he tries to comfort me.

"It's okay," he whispers into my head. "You made a mistake. I did too. You know what, though? The worst kind of mistakes are the ones you don't learn from. I'll help you learn from your mistake, okay?"

He doesn't even fully understand just what mistake I made, but I already feel comforted by his words. My tears stop flowing and I finally begin to choke back my sobs, but I don't let go of him, and he doesn't try to make me.

After a while, we can hear shouts of laughter coming from the kitchen.

"Hey, Link," Ike says with a grin. "I think Wario and Dedede are having a hot dog eating contest. Shall we go watch?"

I grin at him. "Oh yeah, that will be something to see. You go ahead, I just need a minute to get myself together."

He gives me a warm smile. "Okay. See you down there."

I watch him go with a big smile plastered on my face. I know what you're thinking, and no, I don't like him like that.

Adjusting my tunic and giving my face one more good wipe with a tissue, I chase after Ike down the hallway. Maybe nothing will ever happen between us, but I'm glad I have a friend I know I can count on.

Tomorrow, I'm going to go visit Pit in the infirmary again. Maybe, just maybe, we can give it the ol' high school try. Did I say that expression right?

But for now, it's time to watch the mansions' resident penguin be blown away by the vile Wario.


	23. Epilogue Final: Normalcy

**Crystal Nothings II: My Wings Angle Down - Fallen Lithium**

"Ewwww," Ness groaned while sitting in front of his dinner of pizza. "Sonic, Mewtwo! Quit makin' out at the table! That's gross!"

"Hear, hear!" Ganondorf joined in, despite clenching hands with Link under the table, who, in turn, was looking extremely uncomfortable with the situation.

Toon Link was staring at his alternate personality from across the table.

_Link can be so fickle_, the boy thought to himself. _One minute, he wants Pit, then he wants Ganondorf, now he doesn't want Ganondorf. What's up with that_?

"...Wouldn't you agree?" Wolf asked.

After realizing that Wolf had been talking the entire time and he hadn't been listening, Toon Link very cleverly responded with, "Uh... yes?"

Wolf wasn't usually very talkative, but his cheeks were already tinted pink with drink, so his tongue had been loosened considerably. He nodded vigorously, believing that Toony had actually been listening to his whole story.

"I know! And then the bastard had the nerve to tell me there was no raspberry jam left! I mean _what the hell _right?"

"Come on, Gandrayda!" the racer known as Falcon was whining. "Please talk to me!"

"No!" the purple bounty hunter admonished. "How do I know you're even interested in me anymore when you're walking around the mansion with your nose buried in one of those nudy magazines! It's because I'm purple, isn't it?!"

"Of course not baby, please --"

"Would it help you if I morphed into Elisha Cuthbert and stayed that way, you pervert?"

"...You could do that?"

With a disugsted snort, the shape-shifting bounty huntress smashed her pizza into her newly appointed ex-boyfriend's face, and stalked off, fuming with rage.

Pouting, Captain Falcon crossed his arms and sat back in his chair while cheese, pepperoni, and mushrooms dripped and left trails of grease on his face.

"Aren't you going to go after her?" Link asked, shaking his hand free of Ganondorf's gently, hoping the action would go unnoticed. _I thought I dumped you already_.

"Meh, fuck it," Douglas murmured, taking a tissue to one of his eyeballs. "Women are so hard to please. I think I just might be like you guys and go gay."

Rolling his eyes, Link winced slightly as he felt Ganondorf grip his hand again. "You can't just _choose_ to be gay. You have to actually be attracted to men, you know."

The racer grinned widely. "Hey, no problem! I can do that!" His eyes immediately began tracing the room for his first male victim. His gaze settled on Ike. For a long time, he glanced between Ike and his pants, after which he gave a sigh. "Nope, nothin'."

Link just nodded in satisfaction. He was glad that someone who was as much of a shameless flirt as Falcon wasn't walking on his side of the street.

"Hi, Lucas," the pirate-turned-princess Zelda greeted the blond psychic casually as he sauntered up to her seat.

"Uhm, hi... Z-Zelda," he stammered in reply. He glanced back at Popo, who gave him a thumbs-up and motioned for him to get on with it. "Uhh, h-how are you?"

Popo slapped his face with a gloved hand in frustration as Zelda told Lucas she was fine, with a look on her face that very clearly read: _What a dork_.

"D-do you mind if I sit with you?"

Zelda shrugged and took a large bite from her pizza. "Sure."

Lucas turned around and grinned delightedly at his mountain-climbing friend as he pulled up a chair next to his crush.

"Ever-y-body-a happy?!" Mario screeched as he dashed into the room, followed very closely by his younger brother.

"Mario!!" Luigi cried in desperation. "Come back here and get in your doctor's uniform! I can't take your casually-dressed behaviour anymore. You're going to wear this uniform for the rest of your life!"

Mario squeaked like he was a mouse being chased by an angry cat, and dove under the table, which earned him angry gasps and shouts from the Smashers congregated around it.

"Stranger-a danger!" he screamed. "Get-a hot water! Get some-a disinfectant! Get some iodine-a!"

"Which one do I get to haunt first?" Samus asked, fiddling with some buttons on her non-existent arm cannon. "I'm thinking of going after Gandrayda..."

The spectral princess just chuckled and placed a gentle hand on one of the bounty huntress's giant shoulder pads. "We're not haunting anybody, Samus. You and I both know this place has seen enough termoil."

Laughter erupted from underneath them as Luigi managed to tie up his brother with about six feet of linked sausages.

"Look at that," Zelda gestured towards the scene. "I think everything's really going to be normal here now. Do you really want to ruin that for them?"

"Yes."

Suddenly, the sausage mess was being ignored as the Star Warrior known as Kirby began break-dancing on the table, very obviously showing off for a very impressed-looking Jigglypuff, who was staring at the puffball with wide eyes.

"Still?"

"You bet," Samus affirmed coldly.

Fox and Falco began kissing each other as they clenched hands gently, lost to the antics of their friends, while Toon Link was desperately trying to teach a slightly tipsy Wolf how to use finger puppets.

"Now?"

Defeated, the ghostly Samus sighed and turned her back to the happiness of the room. "No..."

"I'm going to go up to the infirmary and see Pit," announced rather abruptly, before standing up to leave. As he exited the room, the adult Zelda just rolled her eyes dramatically.

"You're going to follow him, aren't you, Samus?"

She didn't even answer, simply floated away from her friend in that very generic way that spirits do, and tailed after Link as he ducked and rolled through the hallways.

Samus stopped as they arrived at the ward that the angel was being held in.

"Psyche Ward," she murmured aloud. "When did they put in a Psyche Ward?"

Nonetheless put off by this mysterious new wing of the infirmary, Samus floated inside and settled on a bed next to where the Hero and the angel were talking.

Their voices were hushed and assuming, and Samus was afraid to get closer lest she spook them with her cold aura. Pit especially, had always been very aware of the supernatural. Regardless, she inched closer to the duo, now standing on her feet, and leaned as close as she felt it safe.

"...that to you, Pit. I don't know what was running through my mind."

"You don't have to apologize. It wasn't your fault," Pit offered kindly. "I was in a coma, what could I have done?"

"But you went into a coma saving _me_," Link reminded him, as if Pit were the one who had lost his memory. In response, he just shrugged and fiddled with a corner of his bedsheets. "As soon as they let you out of here, I'm letting you take me out."

Dropping the sheet, Pit's head snapped around and his eyes met Link's, shining with joy.

"Really?!"

"For real."

"I... I'm still in love with you, Link."

Link just nodded, and they embraced tightly. Samus closed her eyes, knowing it was her time to leave.

_Go get 'im, tiger_, she thought, as she retreated to meet up with Zelda and watch things from wherever they were, knowing that for the first time, everything was going to be all right.

END

**Author's Note: That's it, everyone! It's over! Thank you so much to everyone who left reviews at any point during this journey. Basil-Ovelby, The Mad Joker, SerpentPanda, kitetheblade, Wind Kaizer, Tylida, Shiva Sativa, an awesome blossom, tallestpurplewashere, and Dochii, you're all incredible and I was always on the edge of my seat waiting for your reviews! Thanks so much for reading. Also, there will be no Part 3, so please don't ask for it! If you want to know what I'll be up to next, please check my profile! Much love for you all --FL  
**


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